Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)

I thank the Cathaoirleach for letting me sit in for Deputy Rice, who is normally on the committee. I am not. I am just covering for him today. A little background about me is that I was a school completion co-ordinator for 18 years and my doctoral research was about trauma and early school leaving. I have worked with a lot of children and young people from the Traveller community throughout my career.

One of the things I am concerned about is reduced school days. I was looking at the data in the report that came out in February. There is a large percentage of children from the Traveller community, as compared with children from the settled community, who are on reduced school timetables, as they used to be called. I apologise for the old lingo. I am concerned about that. I recently visited Ballyfermot Travellers Action Programme, where it was expressed to me how difficult it is for children who are going to primary and secondary school when they are in for an hour. There is nothing less motivating for a child than to get up and get ready to go to school for an hour and then come home. It should not be allowed in these circumstances. We must try harder.

It is not just Traveller children. There are other children in special schools and mainstream schools to whom this is happening. It prevents children from having an education. I am concerned about the numbers for children in primary schools. They are small numbers, but in comparison with others they are not. It is 0.36% of Traveller children and 0.11% of all children. It is higher in secondary school and it is concerning considering how few Travellers complete the leaving certificate or equivalent. I am concerned about that.

I was also concerned that when I visited that project I was told the support of the educational welfare service, which I worked closely with in my project in Ballymun, is not there. The number of supports that are needed are not there. This is echoed throughout the country.

I am not sure how much time I have.