Mr. Damian White:

Yes. It will not happen overnight, but we certainly can. It is not just about ethnic minorities. There are Travellers and people from various backgrounds for whom the route to teaching is not as simple. A simple thing happened recently when funding was cut. I noticed a lady posted a tweet on the issue. She is trying to become a primary school teacher but the funding cut has ruled her out because she is a member of the Travelling community and is on a low income. She wants to become a primary school teacher, but the fact the grant has been reduced means it is impossible for her currently.

We should be digging up trees to make teaching a more racially diverse profession. A very small proportion of teachers come from anything other than the white Irish group. That is a fact and there is no getting away from it. Ten years down the line, it will be different. As people learn the Irish language from day one going into school, we will see greater diversity among teachers, but currently it is an issue we fall down on.