Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House today and for this really important work. The programmes are now in their rightful place. The Peter McVerry Trust has stated that failure to complete the junior certificate is a big factor in homelessness. School completion for Travellers, with whom I worked for a number of years doing literacy and numeracy workshops, remains a serious problem. For example, only 13.3% of female Travellers are educated up to upper secondary level or above, compared with 69.1% of the general population. Therefore, these are really important issues. I thank the Minister for taking the time to do what was required to get them the supports they need under the Department of Education.