Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is well aware of the fact that if any level stays in place, even 10%, it is an element of discrimination and people will suffer. According to the Irish Traveller Movement, only 10% of adult Travellers have been to school. What chance have they got of getting a fair opportunity if a 10% is quota introduced? Likewise, there is no doubt that new migrant communities, minority faiths and children with disabilities are finding it a bit more difficult to get into schools.

I have an example of a girl called Martina from Slovakia who works in one of our wine bars and who has been in Ireland for ten years. She applied to a girls' national school in Glasnevin, which is her nearest school, and was told that the child would not be suitable because the school was mostly made up of Irish children. Her friends have had the same experience. How in God's name are we going to get to a place where people are being treated equally and fairly if we are going to allow schools to discriminate? Does the Minister not admit that this 10% will continue a certain form of discrimination?

See this speech in context