Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for allowing me to raise this issue and I thank the Minister for his attendance. I raised this issue with him previously by way of a question on the yellow flag programme. I will explain, for while the Minister knows the House might not.

The yellow flag programme is described as a "progressive equality and diversity initiative for primary and secondary schools" that "promotes and supports an environment for interculturalism." Through a co-operative approach involving students, staff and management, it is possible to consider issues of diversity and equality. These should not be seen as school subjects. Rather, they should be taken outside the school setting, as they affect everyone's life.

We are all familiar with the green schools project. In parallel with that environmental programme, the yellow flag programme is a practical scheme with an award as an incentive. Following completion of the eight steps involved and an external assessment, a school is awarded the yellow flag in recognition of its work in promoting diversity and inclusion.

When I raised this issue last December, the Minister replied:

My Department has not provided support for the programme referred to by the Deputy, which I understand was run as a pilot project in some schools. In view of the current economic climate, funding for new programmes, including this programme, cannot be considered at this time.

I was disappointed by the Minister's answer, as the programme would not be expensive. The Minister might inform me of the situation, but I hope that the pilot scheme has been successful. As the Traveller movement has stated, there is a great need for diversity among teachers and for additional anti-racism training at the colleges of education. The teaching practice programme should send a message of diversity in the education system.

Gaelscoil Riabhach in Loughrea, County Galway, has a yellow flag. Nationally, 26 schools are working on the green flag scheme and 30 have been awarded it, including Gaelscoil Riabhach. Thirteen schools are working towards the yellow flag, including St. Patrick's boys' national school in Tuam, County Galway.

I hope that we can make more progress.

I am worried that the Children's Rights Alliance has awarded the Government an E grade for its unsatisfactory performance on issues affecting Traveller children. Likewise, any cutbacks to education should not affect Traveller children in the education system because it would only reinforce and condemn another generation of young Traveller children to exclusion and marginalisation. I hope the Minister will examine the issue again. The yellow flag programme is worthwhile and perhaps the Department might be able to support it.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The yellow flag programme, based on the same principle as the green flag environmental education programme, and developed by the Irish Traveller Movement, ITM, is a school-based programme and award scheme which recognises a school's work in promoting diversity and inclusion. The programme works through a model based on eight practical steps which allows schools to apply the steps to the day-to-day running of the school. The yellow flag programme is a practical scheme with an award incentive. Following completion of the eight steps and external assessment of the school, it is awarded its yellow flag in recognition of its work in promoting diversity and inclusion.

The programme operates through a co-operative approach of students, staff, management, parents and wider community groups so that issues of diversity and equality are not merely seen as school subjects but can be understood and taken outside the school setting into everyone's personal lives, creating an environment for inclusion with a long-term impact on wider society. The yellow flag programme was initially piloted in four schools, two primary and two secondary, in 2008 to 2009. A further 17 schools in Dublin, Wicklow, Clare, Galway, Louth, Meath, Kerry and Limerick have been included in the programme.

The yellow flag programme is a private initiative supported by philanthropic funding. It is not funded by the Department. I am pleased to say that the authors of the yellow flag programme, the Irish Traveller Movement, were consulted on the development of the anti-bullying action plan which I launched recently. The ITM made a comprehensive submission and also met the anti-bullying working group to outline the particular issues that arise for children from the Traveller community who experience bullying at school and the role of the yellow flag programme in addressing the issues. The action plan report recognised that while bullying can happen to anyone, some groups are particularly at risk. A number of submissions to the working group focused specifically on vulnerable groups including children and young people from the Traveller community. The working group recommended that the definition of bullying in the new national procedures for schools should include a specific reference to identity-based bullying and that all grounds of harassment under the Equal Status Acts should be listed in anti-bullying policies - gender, including transgender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race and membership of the Traveller community.

The popularity of the yellow flag programme means that it clearly strikes a chord with schools who wish to develop inclusive and respectful school communities. I hope it will be possible for the Irish Traveller Movement to continue to make it available to schools. At the very least I hope that some best practice and learning in this important area can be extracted from its use to date for wider use.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. I am especially pleased that he mentioned the anti-bullying policy developed by the Department. He is correct to state that an issue arose about identity-based bullying. That has been raised by many interested parties, in particular by the Irish Traveller Movement. I hope the Department will support the initiative to tackle identity-based bullying. One way of doing so is the yellow flag programme although I am not sure where the funding will come from if we are depending on the philanthropic sector. The yellow flag programme should be supported in the same way as the green flag scheme for the environment, which has been supported by local authorities and the Department.

The bottom line is that schools have changed and different challenges and issues face them. We must move to deal with them. I hope it will be the case that the rights of ethnic minorities will be dealt with by the Government at a later stage. The Children’s Rights Alliance award of an E grade to the Government suggests we face a serious challenge. I hope the Minister will deal with the issues confronting schools. Different issues face schools currently and significant challenges arise with the diverse school population.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I thank Deputy Kitt for raising the issue. He has had a particular interest in it for some time and I welcome the fact that he has raised it again today. However, we do not have the additional resources that are necessary. We have focused in a major way on bullying in the school place, both within the classroom and outside and within the entire school community. The guidelines on bullying within the Department of Education and Skills were last examined in 1993 and 20 years later we have focused on the manifestation of bullying in all of its current forms, including identity bullying and specifically in the context of Travellers being bullied or harassed because of their identity and special ethnic background.

What the Deputy has raised is constructive. Discrimination, bullying and ostracisation are in a related space to bullying, as defined within the new guidelines on bullying. The guidelines have been made available to various groups and through the Irish Traveller Movement I urge them to utilise that particular vehicle which is being funded. I have allocated €500,000 to promote the guidelines in various forms. I ask Deputy Kitt and the Irish Children’s Rights Alliance to align the new guidelines with the yellow flag programme to achieve the same outcome and desired results he has brought to the attention of the House.