Mr. Bernard Joyce:

We might have different opinions on that. We are in a more regressive position now than we were when the visiting teacher service was in place and when there were links with the schools and the parents. There was an increase in children transferring over to post-primary education and it went up to 90% or 95%. When the cuts came in they cut the specific educational supports directly to Travellers, which was criminal. It was morally wrong to do that at a time Travellers were starting to catch up. It shows that the most marginalised and most excluded groups were the most affected by the cuts.

Travellers were particularly impacted when the social inclusion budget was cut and we have not yet got back to where we were more than 15 years ago. Going back further, 20 years ago and more, I can personally attest that there were many Travellers in segregated schools. It is good that they are no longer in situ, because they reflected a dark past in terms of how society treated Travellers. Those institutional schools did not offer the intermediate or leaving certificate and there was no expectation that Traveller children would go further and do better things. That issue probably deserves a hearing in its own right in terms of how Travellers were treated by the State.

The pilot programmes are a welcome new initiative. The idea is that they will be very much based within the community, as part of which a number of Travellers will be employed and will link in with some of the education bodies. They will look at issues like skills attainment and some of the challenges Traveller children face in schools. The proposal is for a well resourced model, with a team linking in with Tusla and the Department of Education and Skills. The initiative is welcome, but we have yet to see how it will be fully rolled out.