Colette Kelleher (Independent) | Oireachtas source

From the groups of Traveller parents that I have met down through the years, there is plenty of ambition and there is plenty of aspiration, it is just that the system does not support Travellers. Their children get excluded, are on a reduced timetable, are getting bullied and listening to nasty words and hate speech. Then there are the practicalities of the cost. Staying in education is expensive. There was a group in Cork who were saying that for people who did have their children younger, it was very often when their children were young that they were stimulated to go back into education. I know that if Senator Ruane was in the room, she would have plenty to say about that. There are different routes to education, and we do not always need to take the traditional or linear route. It is important that all of those routes are open.