[Acrylic-bob]

Gypsies are a distinct racial group who left the indian sub-continent and moved into south eastern Europe in the thirteenth century. These were the people who travelled about the country from fair to fair telling fortunes and treating sick animals before the advent of the veterinary profession. They are characterised by swarthy complexions black hair and brown eyes and are fiercely proud of their identity. Hitler murdered hundreds of thousands of them in an attempt to wipe them out. He failed. It was considered at the time of European Enlargement, last year, that thousands of them would migrate here from Hungary Czechoslvakia and Rumania, where they are regarded as second class citizens and paracites. They are few in number in this country.

The rest are Irish tinkers or social drop-outs.