Mr. Patrick McDonagh:

The use of visiting teachers should be revived. A clear need for it was felt at the time, and it was successful and worked. Especially in Labre Park, it would help because the group knowledge is not there. It is not normal. Much like in the case of working class communities 40 years ago, or in Northern Ireland, where I am from, Catholic communities 50 years ago, if people are not used to a certain type of education, it might be that no one will tell the student what he or she has to do. There are deadlines, and the student will have to pass examinations and choose which subjects to take. It would be useful to have someone come to the school to explain that, even to the parents, which might be of more value because they can then tell the child why he or she is not studying Irish, or whatever the case might be.

Direct action is needed now because unless the infrastructure is provided for the routes that have been outlined, there will be no point talking about it. There should be a targeted Irish Traveller scholarship. The numbers would be quite small for the time being and, therefore, the cost for the State to bear would be quite low. It would be worth pursuing. If nothing is done to encourage the student when he or she is in primary or secondary school, there will be no point waiting until he or she is 16, 17 or 18 years old and saying, given that he or she has reached that far, that he or she might get a scholarship at that point, because there will not be enough students coming through the system even to partake in that. It needs to be applied the whole way.

Likewise, there is not much point telling 11 year old children they can do this or that, and then, when they are 17 or 18 years old, telling them we have no way of helping them. It needs to be consistent from a young age because many Travellers do not complete secondary school. The age group of ten to 14 years old will probably be the most important to target and encourage that they can do something different. They need to know they do not have to live how their parents did or to have no education qualifications. They should not be afraid of doing something different.

Even the identification of negative experiences is important. Statistics for Travellers at university depends on self-identification. While I have had no issue with doing that, I do not blame others who would have an issue because there is a fear that it will have an impact on one's social circle and even job prospects. It is like writing down the wrong address when applying for jobs. Many people fear that stating they are a Traveller would only encourage a rejection, even if they were highly qualified for the role.