Ó Ríordáin wants schools to fly yellow flag for diversity & inclusion

Statement from Aodhán Ó Ríordáin
Labour Party TD, Dublin North Central
Friday, 2nd March 2012

Dublin North Central T.D. Aodhán Ó Ríordáin has stated today that he wants to see more schools promoting diversity and social inclusion through initiatives such as the Irish Traveller Movement's Yellow Flag Programme.

The Labour Party Deputy was speaking after visiting teachers and students in Margaret Aylward College, Whitehall, who are currently participating in the Yellow Flag Programme.

"It was an absolute privilege to be able to speak with the teachers and students in Margaret Aylwards this afternoon and to see firsthand the excellent work they are doing to promote diversity and inclusion.

"The Yellow Flag Programme is a fantastic initiative which seeks to bring the issues of interculturalism, equality and diversity into the whole-school programme and allows schools to apply them to the day to day running of the school. Moreover, Yellow Flag also promotes the idea of parents and the community working in conjunction with students and educators in order to ensure that the benefits of the programme are not just confined to the classroom.


"The Ireland we live in today is very different to the Ireland of twenty or thirty years ago. Our citizenry is far more diverse and multicultural and it is incumbent on all of us to take this into account and to promote inclusion in this society.


"The next step in this programme now is investigating the possibility of rolling out the Yellow Flag programme nationally and I intend speaking with all relevant stakeholders in order to make this possibility a reality."