Traveller unit `failure': INTO

THE MINISTER for Education's failure to respond to the recommendations of the Task Force on the Travelling Community for the setting up of a Traveller Education Unit in her Department is "unendurable", according to the INTO.

Such a unit would have overall responsibility for the development of Traveller education. It should be guided by an advisory committee made up of representatives of teachers, management, Traveller organisations and Traveller parents, Joe O'Toole, general secretary of the INTO, says.

"The service being provided by the visiting teacher for Travellers is vital, though seriously under-resourced. Most counties at the moment are without the benefit of the service which the Department acknowledged as being one of the most successful in the area of Traveller Education," O'Toole adds.

He has called for the extension of the service to cover all counties. on the basis of a ratio of one teacher per loo Traveller families; meeting this threshold would require about 35 visiting teachers. The Government advertised 23 visiting teacher posts in June 1995 and has, as yet, failed to continue the process and expand this service, O'Toole says.

Speaking at a protest last week, Finlan Farrell, co-ordinator of the Irish Traveller Movement, branded as disgraceful the lack of a coordinated response by the Department to the recommendations of the task force. The protest highlighted the ongoing embargo on new positions for visiting teachers.

Thomas McCann, chairperson of the ITM, said that some progress had been made in relation to the integration of Traveller children into mainstream classes; however, the recent difficulties of a Traveller family with a Galway school demonstrated how far there remains to go. Establishing the recommended education service would be step in this direction, he said.