Eileen Flynn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is the lack of implementation. I believe in fairness. I believe we are all in politics for the right reasons and that we work in NGOs for the right reasons. We start off on a good footing and we want better equality of opportunities for all children. However, we genuinely need the political will to implement the things that already exist and we already have.

The community is disheartened at the moment between issues of accommodation, health and the lack of Travellers being employed. People say that if you cannot see it, you cannot be it. I remember one of my first interviews when I was appointed a Senator by the then Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin. It was with Miriam O'Callaghan, who is a great inspiration for women in this country, and she said to me that if you see it, you can be it. I remember thinking that I was actually very lucky. We probably will not see it again in my time, although I hope we do. I was that extremely lucky person who got to see it and be it. Not everyone will have that. For someone who lives on a halting site and has no water in the morning and cannot get an appointment with a doctor or get equal access to services, it all interlinks.

Paulo Freire says the key to getting out of poverty is education. The focus of this committee is on the small wins. In education, there are a few small wins that we can get by the end of this committee’s term, like the Traveller Culture and History in Education Bill, reduced timetables and working with local authorities to try to support homework clubs for Traveller children. We are not looking for all of the answers today. We are reminding the Department that we are still failing Traveller children, unfortunately, and we do not want to do that as individuals. We need political will and we need to implement the answers that we already have as a committee.