Eileen Flynn (Independent)

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Yesterday, I had a group of young Travellers with a youth service in here. It honestly broke my heart when a young man asked what Leinster House was. I tried to explain to him. He looked at the portrait of Michael D. Higgins on the wall and asked whether he was the Taoiseach. I told him no, that Micheál Martin is the Taoiseach - trying to educate young children within the Traveller community. I see these young children constantly being failed by the education system and we are talking about 15 and 16-year-olds who are on reduced timetables and who are colouring in pages for homework in leaving certificate year. I understand the education strategy and I thank the then Minister, Deputy Foley, who at the time supported Pavee Point to introduce it. If it works, it will be very effective and will make a lot of changes for young children within our community. However, it is not good enough. We and the Department of Education need to put in stronger measures to make sure that children with additional needs and children from the Traveller and Roma communities are not being pushed aside any more.

My wee girl is five years of age and is able to name Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to me and to name the President. My child is very privileged and she is a member of the Traveller community. It is unfortunate that we have 16- and 17-year-olds who have not had that opportunity. It is a failure of the Department and the State. I look forward to working with the Minister, Deputy McEntee, moving forward, and hopefully we can come up with a solution that stops it.