Mr. John Lonergan:

Very briefly, I am a great believer in education and I agree completely with Mr. Patrick McDonagh on that. If we are not getting primary education right and if the experience expressed this morning is widespread, which I believe it is, that is where it begins and ends. The child's experience of education must be positive. Unless that is the case, education will suffer. I am a great believer that it must be a happy and inclusive experience. We must put the emphasis on that where the child starts in primary education. That is where it all begins and it must be a good experience. I agree completely with Mr. Patrick McDonagh about the idea that it has to be third level.

It does not. Education is far broader and far more significant than that. For young children it must be a normal thing to do, like everyone else. There is a connection between extreme poverty and education. That is what I highlighted in Mountjoy many years ago. The poorer the area one comes from, the less opportunity one will have in education. That is a fundamental discrimination. It does not apply exclusively to Travellers but they do suffer greatly from it.