Collins chairs an
Irish Traveller led survivor support group, she has published research regarding the
Irish Traveller community, and the
Tuam Mother and Baby Home, where 800 babies are in a mass grave in
Tuam,
County Galway. She has also undertaken research on Irish institutions such as industrial schools, mother and baby homes,
county homes and the
Magdalene Laundries and has been a critic of the
Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation and past investigations into child abuse such as the
Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse and the
McAleese Report (formally known as the
Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee to establish the facts of State involvement with the Magdalen Laundries). On the day Laura’s mother Mary stated she believes the mass grave her mother is within is filled with
Traveller women subjected to the same inhumane treatment that she received while in the
Industrial Schools. In September 2015 Collins had called on the Irish government to fast track the redress scheme for aging survivors, and to grant free
legal aid to people taking a case to the
Mother & Baby Homes Commission and for the government and the church to support and fund families to remove their loved ones from
mass graves and give them their own burial. She wrote to the
Minister for Justice calling for
justice for the forgotten families of the victims of
institutional abuse. On 27 January 2017, Collins and her mother held a service at her grandmother's, Angela Collins, mass grave in
St. Finbarr's Cemetery for all the women and children who had died within Irish institutions. Collins said to the
TheJournal.ie her grandmother was "a good mum and all the children were healthy, Angelina did not go out and rob a shop and got herself arrested – she was a mother caring for her children. All it is based on is she didn’t have a ring on her finger and was a Traveller," Collins said she believes her grandmother was taken into a county home due to being an unmarried Traveller mother. Four days after it was issued, on 5 March 2017, Collins reported to the
Irish Mirror that "There are many, many Traveller community names that appear on that list of 796 babies and children. My mum was treated differently because of who she was. I hate to imagine how many more Traveller children are in unmarked graves in Ireland. It just makes me so angry. This is just the beginning." In June 2017 Collins sent out press releases to media outlets calling for an official apology to the Traveller community by the government on behalf of the effects around the 1963 commission of itinerancy report. Collins has campaigned against the
National Maternity Hospital being run by the
Religious Sisters of Charity. Collins chairs the organisations Justice 4 All Women & Children,
Mincéir Model’s, and
Travelling People Worldwide. She has been interviewed on
RTÉ Radio 1,
Cork's 96FM, and the Niall Boylan Show. Collins petitioned to ensure the government do not lock away the records of survivors from
Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (Ryan report) for 75 years, she said to journalist Anne Sheridan "I started the petition to show the Government that this is not what survivors and the public want, the effects the laundry had on my mum has never gone away. The large Irish community of survivors in England feel very cut off and distanced from this and, again, their voices are not being heard. The abuse for them has never stopped, this is another cover-up," she told Extra.ie. Collins and her mother continue to publicly push for an apology to be issued to their community. In November 2020 she said to the
Echo Live in regards to the
Mother and baby home commission: "I hope that the report will be transparent and that people get the access to information that they deserve. Throughout the years, it has all been about secrecy." Collins and her mother Mary believe that her grandmother Angela was "one of many
Traveller women who ended up in Irish institutions," and they wonder why this has not been recognized. she said "her mother, grandmother and other Travellers who were put into
industrial schools,
Magdalene laundries and other institutions should receive an apology from the
State for what they went through." In October 2021, Collins created a campaign called Stop Traveller Hate for Hate Crime Awareness Week in response to concerns that social media platforms are either ignorant of the effects of racism against Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller people or do not view it as an important enough issue to address urgently. The campaign lobbied TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, urging them to take hate speech against Gypsies, Roma, and Travellers seriously. In July 2023, Collins joined the Traveller Movement as the Women’s Equality Intern, where she worked within the organisation to support the development of the Women’s Empowerment Network (WEN), campaigned against gender-based violence, and worked towards equality for Traveller women. Soon after starting this role, she transitioned into the position of Partnerships Coordinator. In this role she led on projects, including the development of toolkits for schools about Gypsies, Roma, and Travellers, and the creation of an inspirational historical timeline highlighting notable Romany Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller women. On September 2023, Collins organised a screening of Never Going to Beat You at the Irish Embassy in London, focusing on domestic abuse within the Irish Traveller and Romani communities. Following the film, Collins participated in a panel discussion, addressing the importance of educating young people about healthy relationships, and the need for more support for those affected by abuse. The event aimed to raise awareness and stimulate important conversations around these issues. On November 30, 2024, in response to the treatment of Romany Gypsies and Travellers by Greater Manchester police during the Manchester Christmas markets, Collins organised a protest in London to call for an end to systemic prejudice, as well as for accountability and reform. On the day of the protest, Collins said: “We are demanding accountability for the systemic problem of discrimination and police violence against our communities. We are calling for a full investigation into these abuses and immediate changes to ensure our communities are treated with dignity, respect, and equality.” == Awards ==