Mr. Oein de Bhairdúin:

I know that people have been engaging directly via the Youthreach programme. In May, an audit of the Youthreach system discovered that one in six participants is a Traveller. This equates to more than 2,000 people. I suggest that people should read the audit. The intentions were there. The language was from a cultural deficit model. It explained the reasons people are not progressing. It suggested that Travellers have a disinterest, get married early or are not looking for jobs. There can be a misplacement of issues when they are portrayed as barriers that people are unable to overcome, because they become the responsibility of the student rather than the structure. Although the issues were identified quite well, there was no real sense of what is being put in place to overcome them. Travellers engage with structural services, but it usually i happens through the system only.