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Traveller and Romani Early Years Network launched in Dublin in June 2013

- Blog | REYN Admin

The Traveller and Romani Early Years Network was launched in Dublin on the 21st of June 2013. The network was launched in association with the Policy Forum and Conference hosted by EDeNn, the Irish Equality and Diversity Early Childhood National Network (www.edenn.org) on the 21st and 22nd of June. EDeNn works to support the inclusion of a comprehensive diversity and equality approach in early childhood care and education in the Irish sector. The new Traveller and Romani network will maintain a focus on the rights and needs of Traveller and Roma children and families within the early childhood care and education sector. The Irish Traveller and Romani Early Years Network is linked to the international Romani Early Years Network (REYN) and will engage with those European colleagues in furthering the aims of REYN. Several colleagues attended the event including Dr Adrian Marsh, a Romany-Traveller himself from the Open Society Foundations, which generously supported the Irish event. Financial support from OSF Early Childhood Programme also enabled Roma representatives Samanta Baranja from Slovenia and Miroslav Sklenka from Slovakia to attend the event. This is a very exciting and important initiative that comes at a time when the government of the Republic of Ireland falls short in their commitment to Traveller and Roma communities in early years care and education – as highlighted by the 2013 European Commission progress report on the national integration strategy for Travellers and Roma, in the Irish context (http://ec.europa.eu/justice/newsroom/discrimination/news/130626_en.htm).Speirs210613Dublin046 Speirs210613Dublin096