Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the Waterford training college, I am surprised there was no bonding, whether it was a requirement or not, because based on the costs associated with fulfilling the training criteria and having spoken to a parent of the one of the students, I found it remarkable that the regulatory authority did not have a protection system in place for people being trained to join the aviation ranks. I do not know of any other third level qualification that a student could secure in the State where he or she would face such a liability. We must consider that this qualification is not made available by the State, yet the State requires it to be carried out in this manner.

There is a requirement on the committee to carry out an investigation into what happened in the Waterford training college debacle because there has to be lessons for the Department which should lead to it implementing changes. My understanding is there is nothing to prevent the same happening again and potentially the same characters could present themselves via a new legal entity to offer the same service, rather like Ronseal doing exactly what it says on the tin. The same thing, therefore, could happen again to another wave of students. Suggestions have been made that this may well be about to happen in Waterford. I have significant concerns that more unsuspecting students and parents, to whom Deputy Dooley referred, could wind up in that scenario. The committee should initiate a series of hearings as soon as possible to find out what happened and to make recommendations to the Department to make sure it cannot happen again.

I am not a legal practitioner but I wonder how a company with students in Florida managed to fold the tent without not only the Department but the Director of Corporate Enforcement or the Revenue Commissioners blowing the whistle at an earlier stage to seek court protection for the students. I do not know of a third level institution in which a student could be treated like this while securing a nationally recognised qualification. The students have been shabbily treated and they and their parents deserve much better. I propose that the committee, as a matter of urgency, undertake a forensic investigation into what happened in Waterford and to bring forward recommendations to make sure it does not happen again. The pursuit of the regulatory authority or the company by the parents and the students is a separate issue but there is an onus on us. We must act and do something.