Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I had the opportunity at the committee and elsewhere the welcome the Government decision to establish SOLAS and to give the further education sector a particular entity of its own. Surely urgency is not being attached to the establishment of SOLAS if the implementation group meets at three weekly intervals. I know that constant meetings just for the sake of it are not fruitful, but surely an agenda should be set and achievements arrived at more regularly than every three weeks.

Is the Minister of State satisfied the implementation group is representative enough of all the different interests in the further education sector and SOLAS? Why is there no representation from the CEOs' association? Why is there no representation from the Adult Education Officers' Association? My understanding is that the vast majority of people working in the vocational educational sector at teaching and lecturing level are members of the Teachers Union of Ireland. Why are they not represented? My understanding is that most of the administrative staff in our vocational education sector are members of IMPACT. Surely there is a need to have those particular representative organisations involved in the implementation group.

What I am getting at the moment, from both the people in the VEC sector and people in FÁS, is an amount of uncertainty about the future. None of us wants to see uncertainty develop in an area where there is an urgent need to re-skill and up-skill people and to deal with the very important area of training and preparing people for employment opportunities.

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