Ms Minnie Connors:

I would like to see an apology to all the mammies, daddies, brothers, sisters and grandparents who have lost children to suicide because of the State, schools, Garda and social workers. When Traveller children go to school at four years of age, they feel they are different because of how the teacher regards them. It takes away a child's whole life. Imagine taking away a whole life. At four, a child’s life is gone because he or she is a Traveller and because the teacher at the door on the morning chooses to tell him or her that he or she is different from all his or her little classmates.

An apology would be nice for the generations. Suicide has featured generation after generation in my family. My grandmother lost two children to suicide. My mother has lost one to suicide. Is it going to be my turn? Am I to be next? Will one of my girls take her life, or my 16 year old son? Who is next in my family? This is the way we feel now and how we look at it. It was my grandmother and then my mother, so it is now my turn. Where is it going to stop? Is there any end? I have no confidence whatsoever. I do not believe any other Traveller in Ireland has any confidence in any kind of help or support. We are dragged down and cannot go down any further. We are on our knees at the minute.