I’m a Traveller woman who blazed through college, but I still can’t get into a pub – the system needs to change

A TRAVELLER woman from a family of 13 siblings has told how she blazed a trail in education – but still got turned away from the door on college nights out.

Megan Berry, 26, managed to break down the barriers that in 2020/21 saw just 33 Travellers begin a university degree, becoming the first in her family to go to third level and become an inspiration in her community.

But she told The Irish Sun: “I would often be turned away from the door in front of my college peers, and it’s so humiliating.

"When you’re made a show of like that you’ll never want to return to that social space again.

“And then you internalise all the negative things you hear about Travellers and think maybe it’s our own fault, but I know it’s not.”

Higher Education and Justice Minister Simon Harris has launched a €1billion investment in education and wants to see more college students in their 60s, more inclusion, as well as more access for minorities.

Travellers make up less than one per cent of the population, but over seven per cent of the country’s prison numbers – while just one per cent aged 25-64 have a degree.

Mr Harris told us: “It is an absolute stain on our system that we live in a country where there are more Travellers in prison than in university. That has to change.”

Women brought up through the schooling system to believe they were stupid or forced to leave by bullies are among those on the State’s radar.

Martina Treacy, 56, grew up in Kilkenny, unaware she had dyslexia, and was abused in school by her teachers and classmates because of it.

The mum-of-two left school at 16, unable to properly read or write, and took a job as a cleaner as she assumed it was all she could do.

She said: “I was put in the back of classrooms, I had my hands clattered, and nobody wanted to teach me because I couldn’t read or write properly.

"I hated school so much."

“I was called a dunce and an idiot, I grew up thinking I was stupid. They never gave me a chance.”

Pupil Clara Hand dropped out of her school when it could do nothing to prevent the online bullying she endured in Transition Year.

Both have found a way back.

Martina, who can now read stories to her grandson, has taken a maths and computer course, and recently received a level three qualification in childcare.

YOUTHREACH STAR

Through the Youthreach programme, Clara got a FETAC level four certificate, passed a PLC in pre-nursing with four distinctions, and went on to get a 1:1 in psychiatric nursing at Dundalk Institute of Technology.

The 25-year-old now works as a psychiatric nurse with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and is studying for a masters in mental health.

Minister Harris told The Irish Sun: “There are still a lot of people in Ireland who struggle to read, struggle to write, lack basic digital skills.

"And the beauty of this funding is that it actually brings to light things like an adult literacy for life strategy.

“So we’re looking at how we can fund more training for people who through no fault of their own didn’t get the opportunity to read and write.”

He added: “Hearing these stories of people’s experience in ‘traditional education’ makes me more and more determined to move away from this idea of a one size fits all.

FLEXIBLE EDUCATION

"More and more people are going to need to be able to weave in and out of education in a way that works for them.”

Megan’s degree was funded by the Sisters of Mercy, who paid for everything from laptops to lunch and books.

She now works for Pavee Point and is in Maynooth University.

She said: “If you’re the first in your family to progress on education, it’s hard to grasp.

"And that was something for me. I didn’t see role models.

"I didn’t see family members who have gone on to an education. So I didn’t know where to start.

EMPLOYMENT FEARS

“I think a huge fear for me as well was spending so much time in the education system and not being able to get employment in the future because of my ethnicity.

“It’s the biggest fear for travellers looking to progress on their education journey of not being able to access employment.

"I know in my years as a teenager sending out CVs I always had to change my name on the form to try and get a part-time job, whether it be in a restaurant and things like that.

“I see that with my brothers and sisters now who are finding it very difficult to get employment.”

She added: “I still experience discrimination in my social life, no matter where I go.

“You have to try that little bit harder. You have to prove yourself.

'SO PATRONISING'

"Sometimes people have the need to say, ‘She’s one of the good ones’. What does that even mean?

“It’s heartbreaking, I come from a family of good ones but they’re not getting a chance, you know?

“And being called a good one like that it’s just so patronising.

I think it’s sad actually that in 2023 people can still say these things and that Travellers still have to try and prove that we deserve to be a part of this society.

Racism against Travellers is the last accepted form of discrimination in this country, it’s still very normalised and people are in denial about it.”

The Irish Sun attended the launch of the €1billion European Social Fund Plus Programme investment in employment, skills and social inclusion last week, a joint initiative with the EU that will see €281million of the cash go towards upskilling and reskilling our current workforce.

RECOGNISING PRIOR LEARNING

Mr Harris said: “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever spoken to a journalist where I’m asked about students in the context that isn’t talking about an 18-year-old coming out of school.

"I mean, one of the things that I’m really eager to do is recognition of prior learning.

“People who’ve been in the workplace for years and years, done a really good job — really accomplished people — might have never got the formal qualification themselves.

“Getting our education system to be better at going back and recognising the actual prior learning that they have in that profession is going to be a priority.

“So healthcare, you could be 60 and you could have been working in the nursing home sector for the last 30 years, 40 years perhaps.

BREAKING STIGMA

“That experience counts. And it needs to count when it comes to credentials and to recognition, but also not being ageist when it comes to education.”

The Minister hailed the Youthreach programme, which Clara benefitted from after she quit school.

She said: “There’s still this stigma around Youthreach.

"They either don’t know what it is and think it’s for troublesome children, but that is so far from the truth. Everyone just learns differently.

“Your teenage years are such a difficult time, especially if you have other things going on in your life.

"I’m just thankful I got that extra support and realised that there were other options out there.

“There was a point when I felt like a shell of who I was. Now I feel like the best version of myself.”