Mr. Brendan Joyce:

I thank the Senator for that question. The apprenticeship programme is very much about delivering a bursary to support applicants. It is done in a very culturally appropriate way in terms of outreach and engagement. In this regard, it gives the community confidence. The whole process allows engagement and participation, particularly when there are peer-led workers from the community.

The committee can see today that Ms Kelly, Mr. Stokes and I are very proud members of the Traveller community. We do not feel this is solely an issue for the State, but it is an issue we see. The fact is Travellers want to work. That is indicated by the level of interest in apprenticeships, which means Travellers want to go into employment. I will get to the Senator's question but I want to indicate that the demand that is currently there outstrips supply. We have more demand than we have employment. The opportunities to avail of that in terms of the skills and labour force are not presenting themselves to the community.

We find that Travellers in apprenticeships with employers do not self-identify in fear of what the fallout might be. That is why there is not an uptake of the grant that is currently there, as evidenced by the amount that remains available. I wanted to indicate that, even though Travellers are in the apprenticeships, they are not self-identifying in full because of fear of the fallout from that. That leads to the issue that is prevalent, which is societal discrimination and racism. It is important to indicate that there is still a coldness towards the Traveller community, even when its members want to get into employment and training.

It should be kept in mind that we all want people to succeed, achieve and be ambitious. We want the best for our community. Part of that is removing the chains in terms of poverty. In order to do that, people have to have opportunities and they need a hand up and support. In some cases, that does not transpire, particularly in certain communities.

Maybe I lost my train of thought there. What was the Senator's question?