Annual Report 2014 - Discrimination and the Roma community

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Cases of discrimination in the media
34. National. The media. Direct discrimination. The channel 6 programme called “Investigation” aired a special
looking into theft in the commercial sector and the resale of stolen merchandise on the street.
The report made specific mention that the people involved were Roma.
35. National. The media. Direct discrimination. A Spanish newspaper picked up a news story run in English
and Irish newspapers about a blond Roma girl. The authorities believed the girl had been abducted by the
couple who were actually her parents, who were Roma, based on differences in skin colour.
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In the end it was proven that the girl was the biological daughter of the Roma parents.
“Ireland returns the custody of a girl to her rightful parents, a Romanian Roma family.
DNA tests show that the light-skinned, blue-eyed blond child was their biological offspring.
The Irish authorities returned the custody of a 7 year old girl to a Romanian Roma couple after DNA
tests confirmed that she is their biological daughter, according to the family. The 21-year-old sister
of the girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told the press that her mother was unable to eat
or sleep during the two nights that her little girl was under the guardianship of the Irish Health Service
Executive (HSE).”
This is another example of prejudice against the Roma community; situations that trigger sensationalist news
stories involving the Roma community.
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