Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

The Minister might send me a note at some stage on the limited alleviation measures to which he referred.

Would the Minister agree it is unacceptable that one in every ten Travellers who enrolls in post-primary education completes that education but that one in every 100 goes on to a third level programme? No Minister can justify the withdrawal of resource teachers for Travellers at primary level, the withdrawal of teaching hours for Travellers in post-primary education, the withdrawal of visiting teachers for Travellers in September 2011 and the phasing out of senior Traveller training centres in June 2011.

Will the Minister accept the importance of the outreach work by visiting teachers for Travellers, which has led to a significant increase in Traveller participation up to junior certificate level? The role of the visiting teacher service is to break down hostility and suspicion, particularly on the part of people who do not have a tradition of going on to education.

With regard to the cuts in the programme, could the Minister elaborate about the alleviation measures?

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