Traveller children are losing out on education because of the inappropriate use of reduced timetables in schools, which have been described as "segregated provision" by another name.
Maria Joyce of the National Traveller Women's Forum is calling for an independent investigation by the Ombudsman for Children to determine the extent of the use of reduced timetables and their consequences for Traveller children.
Reduced timetables are in place for children with an illness or medical need, to ensure they can continue in education.
But Ms Joyce has told the Oireachtas Education Committee that they are being used for Traveller children "without that kind of reason or logic" and in many cases to "manage behaviour."
She said this is "feeding in to low expectations" when instead, schools should be looking at the root causes of why a child is unhappy in the school system.
"Reduced hours have been implemented while Traveller children are placed on waiting lists for psychological and educational assessment," she said.
"As waiting times can be quite lengthy, this places Traveller children on reduced timetables for prolonged periods of time without any additional supports being put in place."
She said reduced timetables are being used at primary school which is having a doubly negative impact.
"They are expected to go in to Post Primary School and deal with increased subjects and multiple teachers on a daily basis for a much longer day. It is an absolute given that these children will fall out of the system and we do see it as another form of segregated provision - albeit in a different name."
Patrick Reilly of Pavee Point said reduced hours are feeding in to the "shocking and poor education outcomes for Travellers."
He quoted figures from the ESRI stating that 13% of Traveller children complete secondary school compared to 92% of the settled population.
He said these negative outcomes are being "re-enforced" by the use of reduced timetables.
"The use of reduced timetables should be strictly monitored through a defined mechanism. When reduced timetables are implemented a notice should be sent to the Department of Education and the National Council for Special Education.
This notice must include a clear rationale for its use, length of time, plan to support a young person to return to the school timetable, their age and ethnicity," he said.
