Mr. Paul Crone:

It is refreshing to hear Senator Flynn’s passion, and as someone who has worked 27 years in a school in Tallaght and who operated a very inclusive environment of members from the Travelling community and local areas, it speaks to our vision piece. As someone who lives in a very diverse community, where my children attended the local school in a diverse community, it is my core belief that we as a society need to look at and have that discussion around what our vision is and how we can promote and support inclusion. How can we encourage people to be more inclusive and welcoming? It is very difficult.

Speaking to the Senator’s point, we had a number of Traveller families in the school I was in and we did endeavour to make it very welcoming in engaging with the school, and in fairness to the school, it did. That is something we need to replicate as a society. We do not and should not want anybody to feel as if he or she is on the outside, is being excluded or is being treated differently in any way. I welcome the Senator’s passion here today and thank her for it.