Mr. Oliver Egan:

I have taken note of the points that have been made. I will first deal with the point that was made about the level of the grant on the training side. As I mentioned earlier, the original cutback would have been from €24 million to €11 million. The funding for materials and training increased to €20.5 million. That came from a combination of national training fund moneys and Department of Social Protection resources. Training is adequately funded this year. We know that an under-spend will probably occur this year. One of the unfortunate side effects of the debate that took place earlier this year was that training was deferred because there was a feeling that there would be insufficient funds. When funds are made available later in the year, it is harder for sponsors and individuals to organise the provision of training. We will certainly have adequate funding this year. We will face a challenge in the future to build strategic relationships with the VECs, to link into SOLAS, to get the necessary training provided within the totality of the envelope available to the Exchequer and to ensure we are getting the best value for money. That is what we are focused on. Ms Donnelly mentioned the ongoing discussions with the VECs on the establishment of proper memorandums of understanding at local level.