Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am aware of the integrated model. As the Minister knows, I was a Minister of State in the Department of Education and Skills with special responsibility for educational disadvantage as well as further education and training. Decisions were made at that time on senior Traveller training centres and so on. This school is a special one. It has a very special model in its own right. When I met some of the parents last Friday, their attitude was "Here we go again". They see Travellers at the bottom of the pile with the school being closed in one month and their children, quite simply, being discriminated against again by officialdom. I am also aware that the Minister has met at least one of the teachers in his advice clinic. He might like to deal with that. The teachers are obviously very concerned about the students, first and foremost, but they are also concerned about their own positions and those of the SNAs there. A great deal of work has to be done. To give one month's notice of the closure of the school is too short. It has come as a shock. The teachers and the parents are adamant that pupils simply will not go on to sit the leaving certificate examinations if they have now to enrol in a mainstream school. They will leave. I acknowledge the Minister's assurance that he will track each of the children, but looking at the local secondary schools, including Coláiste Dhúlaigh, which springs to mind, my experience suggests it is very difficult for Travellers to continue on to the leaving certificate. That is the objective. For all of those reasons, the Minister needs to give the school more time to put tracking measures in place, find suitable places and provide for supports. What I have heard is that these children were encouraged up to this point, but they now feel totally let down by the system once again.

See this speech in context