The Irish Travellers of Ireland

The Irish Travellers of Ireland, numbering approximately 6,100 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Ireland They are an Indigenous people, in the Anglo-Celt people cluster of the Eurasian Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Christianity - Roman Catholicism. They primarily speak Shelta.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Irish Traveller

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: European Peoples
Country: Ireland
People Cluster: Anglo-Celt
Primary Language(s): Shelta (sth)
Primary Religion(s): Christianity - Roman Catholicism
Population: 6,100
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG000299
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Irish Travellers of Ireland

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Christianity - Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

%

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Shelta
Language Family: Speech Register

%

Media Resources in Shelta:

Films:

No language code (ROL) found for this post.

Bible Resources in Shelta:

The filter value is not set for this post.

Or check out the Shelta bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Next steps for the Irish Travellers

The Irish Travellers are Unengaged and Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Next steps for the Irish Travellers

The Irish Travellers are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Next steps for the Irish Travellers

The Irish Travellers are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Irish Travellers of Ireland

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
readMatthew 5:44-45

Pray for those who don't know Jesus to encounter believers who are kind and compassionate and that their imitation of Christ will serve as a testimony that attracts lost people to Jesus.

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
readRomans 9:16

Pray that the merciful God who is at work in people's hearts will advance His gospel among them.

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
readPsalm 121:1-2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and experience hardship, God will remind them that their help comes from the One who made heaven and earth and that He is powerful to meet their needs.

And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men." And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
readMark 1:17-18

Pray that God will raise up believers from this place and/or other cultures nearby to proclaim the gospel to those who desperately need to encounter it.

Irish Traveller (ROP3 - 108929) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

Scroll to Top