Meet England's first Irish Traveller Youth Councillor Tina Purcell

YTT at Travellers' Times caught up with Tina Purcell the first Irish Traveller Youth councillor in England. 

Tina Purcell is a young Irish Traveller from Eltham, London on a mission to change negative perceptions of Irish Travellers.  

You can watch the video above (courtesy of Patricia Stapleton at Traveller Movement) to find out why she decided to become the first Irish Traveller youth councillor in England. The video was captured today on one of Tina's regular trips to The Traveller Movement’s headquarters. 

Tina was elected to serve as a Greenwich youth councillor in November 2017 representing Eltham and new Eltham. At just 12 years old she has already decided she wants a career in politics. She told YTT her ambition is to become an MP for Travellers, "to help get proper sites and places to live". 

In the video Tina can be seen proudly wearing the Gypsy,Roma and Traveller Women's Empowerment Network  t-shirt, showing her support for the platform created for women to harness their skills and get their voices heard. 

Tina attends St Thomas Moore secondary school and believes it’s very important for other young Travellers to go to school and get an education because traditional ways of earning a living are becoming more difficult. 

"Travellers ways are dying out and there’s no more knocking on doors or collecting scrap so the only way for us is education," she said. 

Her advice to other young Gypsy and Travellers thinking about becoming youth councillors is, "Don’t be ashamed of who you are stand up for your rights and get a good education!"

#YTT wishes Tina luck for her future ambitions and we look forward to hearing more from her!