Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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172. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the Traveller education strategy. [15076/19]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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The Report and Recommendations for a Traveller Education Strategy (TES) was published by my Department in 2006.  The principle of inclusion was at the core of this report.

Action Number 11 in the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy (NTRIS) committed to a review of the "Report and Recommendations for the Traveller Education Strategy". This review is currently underway. My officials have provided updates on the status of the review to the Traveller Representative organisations via the NTRIS Plenary Group and the NTRIS Education sub-group.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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173. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the level of his engagement with Traveller organisations. [15077/19]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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My Department has significant engagement with National Traveller organisations in the context of the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy (NTRIS) to advance initiatives to improve educational outcomes for Traveller students.  Officials from my Department attend at the NTRIS Plenary Steering Group meetings in addition to the NTRIS Education subgroup which meet regularly throughout the year.

In addition to the above, as part of NTRIS, officials from my Department together with officials from TUSLA, DCYA and the Department of Justice and Equality, have been engaging with Traveller representative groups to establish a Pilot project aimed at improving educational outcomes for Travellers and Roma students.  There has been significant engagement over recent months on this project.

In the area of Higher Education, the National Access Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education aims to ensure that the student body entering, participating in and completing higher education at all levels reflects the diversity and social mix of Ireland’s population.  Strand 3 of the Programme for Access to Higher Education (PATH) fund supports a range of new initiatives to encourage disadvantaged groups, including Travellers to participate in third level education over the next three years. These initiatives include mentoring and peer support measures. Funding of €2.5 million per annum is available for PATH Strand 3 for three years.

PATH Strand 2 provides €6m to be invested in “The 1916 Bursaries Fund” over three years for the most socio economically disadvantaged students from under-represented target groups including Travellers.  A steering group of the National Access Plan was set up to monitor progress and provide advice on specific aspects of the Plan.  Pavee Point is represented on this group.

A PATH seminar was held in November 2018 and this included  representatives from the Traveller Groups. There was also strong representation from Traveller groups at the recent National Access Forum held by the Department of Education and Skills on 14 March 2019. The Traveller perspective and voice featured prominently in the Forum’s discussions on the ongoing implementation of the National Access Plan.

In summary, in the past 6 months sixteen meetings have been held involving representatives from my Department with Traveller Representative groups and a list of these meetings is attached. This list excludes engagement by other bodies and agencies under my remit. For example,  the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment has also engaged with Traveller representatives in the context of an audit of Traveller History and Culture in the curriculum.

Department of Education and Skills Engagement with Traveller Representative Groups 1st September 2018 to 29th March 2019.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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174. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the efforts being made to encourage Travellers to become teachers. [15078/19]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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The National Access Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education 2015-2019 (NAP)was launched in December 2015, and aims to ensure that the student body entering, participating in and completing higher education at all levels reflects the diversity and social mix of Ireland’s population. Irish Travellers are identified as a target group within the Plan.

To support the implementation of the National Access Plan, the Department of Education and Skills (DES) established the Programme for Access to Higher Education (PATH) fund in 2016.  Through PATH a total investment of €16.2 million is available over the three years commencing 2017 including initiatives to support greater levels of access and participation by the target groups in higher education, including Irish Travellers.

€2.7 million was allocated for new initiatives to widen access to initial teacher education under Strand 1 of the Programme for Access to Higher Education (PATH). This programme will result in more than 120 new teachers coming through the system from disadvantaged groups which traditionally have been under-represented in teaching, including those from the Travelling community.

The Minister’s objective is to increase the number of students from the Travelling Community along with underrepresented groups entering initial teacher education.