Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach. For me, sitting here, I have written down many statistics and figures that have been thrown out in front of us this morning. I am thinking of my little four-year-old at home who wants to be a doctor. She is in early education.

When she grows up she wants to be a doctor, and I hope with all my heart my child has the same equality of opportunities as any other child in this country. Unfortunately, that has not been the case for members of the Traveller community.

I was an education worker in 2011 for the Irish Traveller Movement. It was one of my first jobs. Back then we were looking for the same data and information Deputy Stanton has been looking for this morning. It is this negative cycle we see with poverty and the way it can keep going around in a cycle. We are seeing this within the Department of Education and it is very unfortunate to see that over 12% of Travellers in secondary school are on reduced timetables. It is 10% in primary school and 24% in special and additional needs schools. I had a very interesting conversation with the Leas-Chathaoirleach. We were going to save equality in this country yesterday, me and him. It is not a funny matter and we were looking at a solution. The reduced timetable is based on the child’s health needs, so it should be given by a doctor that this child should be on a reduced timetable instead of the teacher or school making that call. A Traveller mother came to me since these reports were launched and I was speaking to her about the reduced timetables. She told me her child was on a reduced timetable because he is bold. We know there is a delay in many Travellers being diagnosed with ADHD and autism and I would love to know why that is the case in the Ireland of 2024.

Travellers are still falling through the cracks in our education system. As I said, the Leas-Chathaoirleach and I were having a discussion about the reduced timetables yesterday. There should be assistance from a doctor. Mr. Hanlon said to Deputy Stanton it is psychological or trauma. Who says that? Not every school has psychological services. That is something the national teachers’ unions are looking for. I am on the education committee as well. In 2012, my nephew was denied access to a school and now he has little or actually no education at all. He was failed by the education system. There are many other children. Ms O'Neill was talking about data. She said the latest around children going to primary school was from 2016, but that is eight years ago. We are talking pilot programmes and collecting more data and information while Traveller children are not being supported to reach their full potential.

I went to Pavee Point just before Christmas. We spoke about the national education strategy. I nearly dropped dead when I found out there was never a national education strategy for members of the Traveller community. That really struck me. I remember saying to Martin Collins that I would have made an assumption there was a strategy to support Travellers in education. I take this opportunity to thank the national and local organisations for the work they have continued to do to ensure Travellers can reach their full potential. Credit is due to Deputy Stanton because he keeps going on about education and the importance of it in this committee, but one of our questions today was how having a homework club on sites can help children, and I did not hear a solution. We have to do up a report and I am wondering from the Department, whether we can we work with local authorities. Is there any solution for homework clubs on all sites to support children to do their homework? I had a group in here two years ago from Tipperary and one of my colleagues, Anne Marie Quilligan, was doing a placement there. She was saying to me she had never seen so much poverty or racism when it comes to Traveller children within the education system. She also came across cases in Cork where Traveller students aged 16 and 17 were having colouring-in for their homework. Again, 31% of Traveller children go on to complete the leaving certificate. What kind of Ireland are we living in? This is our education system in 2024.

This is not me attacking anybody personally. I want that to be extremely clear. I am sitting here and thinking of my child who has dreams, but I was once a child who had dreams. Surely to God, John Collins in the Gallery had dreams when he was just a child. We are expected to go on and work in Traveller organisations or go on and be the Traveller Senator - to go on and be just people who work with and for our own community. When my child grows up and if she reaches her potential and becomes a doctor like she wants to, does she just operate on Travellers? The Leas-Chathaoirleach and I were talking about it yesterday. Our new Taoiseach spoke about how every child in Ireland should had the same equality of opportunity. I am sitting here as a Senator who happens to be a member of the Traveller community and I woke up this morning knowing children in the halting site I came out of are on reduced timetables because they are bold. I know their mothers and fathers before them did not get equality of opportunity within the education system. I can see that poverty and disadvantage keep going around and around on the halting sites. That is absolutely unacceptable in today’s society.

The 31% figure is unbelievable. What happens when they are aged 16? That is the question. What happens when a Traveller child is 16? When I was 16 I got one or two nasty comments to me in secondary school. While I had an overall good experience, I had nasty comments like “Why aren’t you off getting married?” and those stereotypes that unfortunately professional teachers still have today. That is changing, along with training and education for teachers and, as Deputy Stanton said, having members of the Traveller community in the teaching profession. Traveller education was cut by 86% in 2011 and those cuts have not been reversed. There has been little or nothing put in place for Travellers since that cut.

We have answers. We have the Yellow Flag programme. We have organisations working with schools on the ground giving schools information and solutions, more importantly, but how do we implement those solutions? We have actions from our previous committee and none of them have been implemented. We have the Traveller Culture and History in Education Bill that – no disrespect as I am on the education committee – the Minister, Deputy Foley, keeps kicking down the road.

That Bill would be beneficial not only to the Traveller community, but to all students. I apologise that I cannot speak for too long because my lung collapsed two weeks ago. I ask the witnesses to respond on some of the points I have made.