Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat. In particular, the school completion programme provides a service to areas and sectors in society that are less well off, for example, the Traveller community. In north Kerry in my constituency, there are 210 Traveller families. A sizeable number of their children would not be in school were it not for the availability of this programme. It has added benefits for society. For example, after-school services try to help people to keep up with other students. Young people starting out in life are given a great foundation because they can not only compete, but believe that they can compete and be just as good.

The Minister mentioned a figure of €182,000 for the programme in north Kerry. This follows a number of severe cuts in recent years. Is there any possibility of the figure increasing in order to give the programme the added value that is necessary to provide services?

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