Ms Kathleen Sherlock:

There are Travellers who are not in a position to go into employment. This has to be acknowledged. For the young Travellers who are actively looking for work but the doors are closed to them, we need to open those doors. We cannot allow them to remain closed. On the quota system, I cannot put a figure on what it should be. That is an issue for the national Traveller organisations and Traveller groups to discuss.

There definitely needs to be positive discrimination. It had to be in place for African American communities not because of a lack of ability or to create a level playing field but to give people an equal starting point. The starting point is not equal so we need to do this. We do not really know the number of Travellers who have been rejected. I know anecdotally of Travellers who have applied for positions and did not hear back. Employers who state they received a certain number of applications from Travellers and they were rejected are not asked why they were rejected.