Madam, – A sad week indeed for education with the abolition of the Visiting Teacher Service for Travellers! At a farewell gathering for one such teacher in Ballyfermot’s Labre Park halting site, one of Dublin’s most neglected Traveller communities, a Leaving Cert student spoke of the many times she wanted to leave school but was bullied, persuaded, cajoled into going back by the Visiting Teacher who wouldn’t take No for an answer. She told how proud she is of the achievement of getting her Leaving Cert, but also of her fears for younger children, many of whom face too many obstacles to get there without that support.
It was not just the students these teachers wouldn’t take No from; many schools were challenged to accept their responsibility to Traveller pupils by this small service of some 40 teachers.
Cutbacks in special education are savage and, I believe, disproportionate, but the complete and immediate abolition of the Visiting Teacher for Traveller Service and the Resource Teachers for Travellers smack of ethnic retribution. Shame on Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn! – Yours, etc,