Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for that positive response. As a former lecturer in the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, GMIT, in Galway, I saw very few from the Travelling community passing through the built environment section as students. When I was working in the private sector I experienced Travellers who had gone to third level education, got their engineering degrees, and were out on sites working and contributing to society. They were also models for other young Travellers who might be contemplating third level education. That is one of the issues. They may feel there is a barrier or attitude that if they go to university they will not be treated properly. The most important thing is that we need a system where Traveller students in universities are sent out as ambassadors into the communities, secondary schools and other areas, to explain their experience in education to other Travellers. I understand this is happening with some success in the university in Galway. Maybe it is something that should be looked at so every college and university would have an ambassador type situation to try to encourage more people.

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