A young Traveller woman who graduated from university after leaving school early says she hopes she can become a role model for other Travellers.
Annmarie McDonnell made history by earning a degree in Community and Youth Work at the same time as her own mother, Geraldine.
The McDonnells, who live at a halting site on Dunsink Lane in Finglas, both attended the conferring ceremony at Maynooth University today.
Annmarie McDonnell gave birth to one of her two children during the four-year part-time course, while she faced the added challenge of having left school after her Junior Cert year to get married.
Her mother, Geraldine, is employed as a community worker with the Parish of the Travelling People.
Father Derek Farrell, Parish Priest of the Parish of the Travelling People, said the ceremony highlighted the importance of education.
Fr Farrell said Pope Francis emphasized this fact at a meeting with Travellers in Rome earlier this week.
Professor Philip Nolan, President of Maynooth University, said the university has as much to learn from its Traveller students as they have to learn from it.
Meanwhile, the Pavee Point organization has urged the Government to restore the €66 million in spending on Traveller education support that has been cut during the recession.
The organisation says this would allow many more Traveller and Roma people to complete their Leaving Cert, never mind earn university degrees.
Fr Farrell also emphasized the importance of supporting education in Ireland's Traveller Community and welcomed the recent call by the Children's Rights Alliance for the restoration of the austerity funding cuts to support programmes for the Travelling Community.
He said the funding restoration is vitally important to underpin the positive trends in Travellers' school-going patterns and to avoid the possibility of them regressing.
