Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I propose we publish on the committee website the following documents provided by the Department of Education - the opening statement, the briefing, the letter about the supporting Traveller and Roma, STAR, project and the letter about the homework clubs. Is that agreed? Agreed. I suggest we invite our witnesses to speak for between five and ten minutes and allow members to ask questions or make comments for approximately five minutes. Members may speak more than once. Is that agreed? Agreed.

This is the committee's first meeting on the subject of Traveller education policy. However, the previous committee completed a considerable amount of work on this subject. The final report of the previous committee made 23 recommendations regarding Traveller education policy. The committee is grateful to our witnesses for appearing today. From the Department of Education we have Ms Cliodhna O'Neill, assistant secretary, Ms Gráinne Cullen, principal officer in the social inclusion unit, Mr. Frank Hanlon, principal officer in the special education section, and Ms Kate Waterhouse, assistant principal officer in the social inclusion unit. We are interested to hear about the progress the Department of Education has made in implementing those 23 recommendations. We are also interested to hear about the Department's policies relating to the visiting teacher service, the provision of after-school homework clubs to the Traveller community, the guidelines on reduced school days and more. I invite Ms O'Neill to make her opening statement on behalf of the Department.