Researchers concluded that members of the ethnic minority group are “over policed as suspects and under policed as victims”.

The Irish Travellers’ Access to Justice (ITAJ) report details the maltreatment of travellers in the criminal justice system, The Times reports.

Half of respondents said they had been present in a home when gardaí entered without permission, while a mere 11 per cent said they had been shown a search warrant.

The report, from the University of Limerick, also details some positive experiences respondents had with the criminal justice system but this was, it noted, the exception rather than the rule.

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission and the Irish Research Council funded the 18-month study under the COALESCE programme. Researchers spoke to one in every 100 travellers from 25 of the 26 counties.

Asked about the last time a garda had stopped them in the five years before the survey, 59 per cent of those interviewed said they thought it had been because they were a traveller.

Report co-author, Professor Jennifer Schweppe from the University of Limerick’s law school, said: “Justice is not seen to be done in Irish courtrooms by members of the traveller community.”

She added: “This report sheds light on the lived experiences of travellers. Our criminal justice system is not one where they feel protected but they are afraid of it. This is certainly very upsetting and distressing.”

Professor Schweppe said there were various reasons as to why travellers distrusted the criminal justice system.

“Some of it is intergenerational,” she said. “The state has in the past attempted to eradicate traveller culture and assimilate them into the settled community. There are different aspects to the creation of the environment of fear.

“Some parents tell their children to be cautious of the gardaí. There are distressing parts of the report where people speak about children being present when what they call raids on their homes happen. The gardaí are not seen as people who protect them but people who come into their homes. Young men talk about being stopped possibly because of racial profiling. Travellers are underp-rotected by the criminal justice system.”