Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I worked in Ballymun for 25 years and I am very aware of education in disadvantaged areas. I am not too sure they are the reasons. I would caution against speaking badly about vocational education. It is outstanding. One cannot say one school is better than the other. The Government is now completely if not entirely dependent on vocational educational in relation to the youth guarantee. It is one of the finest educational aspects of our education system. I would caution against the idea that because particular children go into vocational education something negative happens. It does not. Vocational education is probably one of the best methods of teaching in relation to apprenticeships and education plus trade plus work well done plus labour market.

I do not necessarily believe that integration means equality. Would Ms Quilligan be in favour of Traveller education?

There are some other observations I would like to make. We have all this integration and we are integrating to the point that we cannot breathe. Half the time we are integrating and calling the process "equality" but it is not that. I have a question but that was just an observation. We can have a conversation later.