Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Work is progressing to advance a Traveller Education Strategy in line with the Programme for Government commitment. Work currently underway that will inform the development of the Traveller Education Strategy includes:

- work underway by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) to support teaching and learning of Traveller history and culture, which follows the 2019 audit of the curriculum in respect of Traveller culture and history;

- the refined DEIS identification model I announced in March last year, which includes components to reflect the educational disadvantage experienced by students who have self-identified as Traveller or Roma;

- a pilot project Supporting Traveller and Roma (STAR)which is underway in four areas (Galway, Wexford, Dublin and Cork), with the aim of addressing the barriers impacting on Traveller and Roma attendance, participation and retention in education;

- in line with the Programme for Government commitment to:“Undertake an independent assessment of the pilot projects aimed at retaining Traveller and Roma children in education”, in September 2022 I announced the opening of a tender process for the independent evaluation of the NTRIS STAR pilot project. Work is ongoing in my Department to finalise the award stage. A Research Advisory Board is also being established to support the evaluation, and there will be a Traveller representative on that Board;

- My Department received €400,000 from the 2022 Dormant Accounts Fund to tackle education disadvantage for Traveller and Roma communities. In October last year,I announced that this is being used to fund 10 new Home School Community Liaison (HSCL) coordinators in 14 non-DEIS post-primary schools with high numbers of Traveller and Roma students. These HSCL coordinators will also have access to funding, to implement and run initiatives to encourage improvements in school attendance, retention and progression for Traveller and Roma students. Funding is also being used to provide targeted supports to ensure the effectiveness of the HSCL role in working with Traveller and Roma families. Funding for these measures will continue in 2023.

Officials from my Department, together with officials from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, engage with Traveller representative organisations as part of the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy (NTRIS) education subcommittee. This engagement will continue in the context of the development of the Traveller Education Strategy.