Mr. Pat Stokes:

It is good to have the likes of Irish Rail and ESB in there but sometimes it is more about getting the local bank of employers that you can call on. We are finding that Travellers have issues with getting employers locally on it. Certain Traveller names stand out in certain areas. Once employers hear that name, it is done. On a personal level, my son tried to apply for an apprenticeship here. We had not mentioned names or where we are from. That morning, the employer said it was expanding and was taking people on for apprenticeships. My son sent in his CV and had qualifications to get onto the apprenticeship. That afternoon, the employer was not in a position to take anybody on. It was put down to the name that had to go on the CV. It is great to have all these big companies but we would still like to have that bank of local employers that we can go straight to when we need to.