Philomena O’Reilly and Annie O’Reilly, two students at Abbey Vocational School, travelled to Dublin to accept awards from Minister Simon Harris at the Traveller Youth Awards.
The girls were nominated for being among the first travellers to successfully complete their Junior Certificate and continue with their education in South Donegal. Philomena and Annie are both now completing Transition Year.
They recently travelled to Dublin where they received their awards which were presented by Simon Harris, Minister for Further and Higher Education.
As part of their award, they received a medal, a €50 voucher, a certificate signed by both Simon Harris and Michael D. Higgins and a personally signed letter from President Michael D. Higgins himself.
It was discussed during the ceremony that only 12% of all Travellers (8% male and 4% female) complete second level education with even less making it to third level. They also outlined that many travellers leave school before even starting
secondary school and those who make it to secondary school usually drop out between 1st – 3rd year.
