Mr. Oein de Bhairdúin:

I would. I also wish to comment on the support for the pilot programmes we are running. They are very much needed. I hope they will be very successful but they are not immune from criticism. In one way, they are supporting a process that should already be happening and supported by the State in general. We are putting much-needed resources into them and I hope they will be successful.

We must ask about how we are challenging existing structures. Are we creating another avenue for people to prosper without actually challenging the core? We must educate teachers who are already in our institutions; otherwise we are creating something that does not need to be there.

I was part of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment's audit of best practice in schools across the country. We genuinely struggled. We came across cases where schools were doing quite well because of teachers or principals who were doing their best, but the work was based on the personality and individual interventions of the teachers and principals rather than on a structure based on the Traveller children engaging daily. In itself, this resulted in hesitation. A model based on a very limited number of people, who could potentially move on, could be pushed as best practice rather than ensuring support structures are maintained.

On the need for ongoing audits, I am aware that when schools undergo their own audits, they will look to ensure the inclusion of Travellers within the curriculum. This also needs to be done in a way that audits and reviews of schools look at how they present the language and tuition on Travellers in a normative way, and that the Traveller community itself can be part of that process. If one asks schools if they are doing well in that regard, the chances are that they will respond that they are. We need to have our voices at that table as a counter narrative to show if there are gaps developing, perhaps in a very authentic way, and then we can highlight them.