Ms Maria Joyce:

If the education system valued and respected Travellers, you would not need anything additional to get those kids through the system because they would be having positive experiences. The educational welfare officers and the supports they provide are important but more positive and better experiences within the whole school setting are really critical to the outcomes for Traveller children. While we are seeing more Traveller children transfer from second level into third level, it is nowhere near enough. We are still seeing too much off a drop-off between the junior certificate and completing the senior cycle. Those supports and resources are needed, but not from a policing perspective. If the whole school environment provided an inclusive and positive experience for Travellers, you would see more without any kind of policing effort being involved. Unless those supports are engaging with families and teachers have high expectations of the Traveller children in front of them, the increase in the number of Travellers finishing second level will be much lower than it needs to be.