Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank everyone for their presentations and for the hard work done. It is very important. It struck me when listening that, according to the ESRI, there is terrible discrimination against women in the Traveller community. They tend to lose out an awful lot. Very many women Travellers are not in employment because of the way they were brought up. In many cases, they tend to be in the home a lot more. I wonder what strategies are being rolled out in this regard. Education obviously plays a big role in this regard and trying to educate people to a higher level is very important.

The number of Travellers coming forward to join the Civil Service is low. Is there positive discrimination in the Public Appointments Service or is it something we are not allowed to do any more?

Regarding the Open Doors Initiative, are we encouraging Travellers to work from home? Are there incentives to do so? Where a person is not computer literate or does not have education up to a certain standard, what is the position?