Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I accept what Deputy Crowe stated and the spirit in which he has articulated it. We need to have a discussion on this because at a time when there were plenty of resources, money going in that direction was not having the necessary outcomes, in other words, the retention of Travellers on the scale necessary going through the secondary school system. I encountered this in Galway in February or March last, where one of the secondary schools in the city had a very high concentration of Traveller children and the completion levels were very unsatisfactory even though there were resources.

We all must learn how to achieve more with less. Sometimes in the past simply adding extra resources was seen as solving the problem when, in fact, it did not solve the problem. I agree with Deputy Crowe. I would be happy to come back to this House when we have time for a more considered discussion on this issue. The Joint Committee on Jobs, Social Protection and Education might invite in some of those in this area to talk about what is happening out there.

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