Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The reason I tabled the question is that in response to other questions the Department has stated things are going well in the Traveller community with regard to education. I believe the principle is individual educational needs rather than Traveller identity. We are not discussing this aspect. We had a recent experience in St. Dominic's in Ballyfermot.

What the Minister is saying now is not true. They have said themselves that up to 2011 they had 100% retainment of children from the Traveller community. Since then they have seen a change in the situation because of the cuts in resource and visiting teachers, as well as the SCP local co-ordinator and the SCP project worker. These all linked in with the guidance counsellors and MBSS classroom co-ordinator. All those cuts have made a big impact and Traveller children are now dropping out of the system.

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance has said that there must be a consistent system of data collection to assess minority pupils' performances in education and establish the necessary policies in this area. Has the Minister put something like that in place? Those affected are saying that if this continues all the benefits gained in the last seven years, up to 2011, will be gone.

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