In Ireland, there was little difference between the two
It was the 'tradesmen' that was the uniting factor, not their ethnic origins
Onede strange feature we learned about in Clare was of the travelling women - lone women who would walk from town to town offering to work or just simply begging a meal and a bed in the barn
Tom Lenihan described a 'Mrs Brown' who he learned songs from
He guessed she had been abandoned and driven away from home to the life she was living when he met her
Other's he believed were girls who had 'got into trouble'
I know from Thomson's books that he was a reliable source of information
Jim