Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has an exciting programme ahead and no doubt he will be busy. He spoke about the Erasmus for All programme and I think he said there were funds of €19.1 billion across Europe for the Union programme for education, training, youth and sport. That is very positive. The Minister might indicate how much Ireland will get of that funding and what he will prioritise. I ask that question because we had a Nobel laureate economist, Professor Pissarides, in the Seanad last week who said that in a recession Ireland should not pull back from education and training. He further stated that it should priorities short courses in particular, which is what we are doing, to make people more market ready. As the Minister is aware, we can have the typical arts or science degree but without a specialism the person may not be market ready or employable. To where will the Minister direct that money in addition to what we are doing currently and who can draw down those funds?

It was interesting to hear that 4,000 out of 15,000 of the world's universities are located within Europe. Deputy McConalogue asked the Minister what he hoped to achieve at the end of our six-month Presidency. I do not know if the Minister is aware of this but there is no university in Europe, including here, that has a smoke free campus. The campuses of 744 universities in America are smoke free. I understand there is a willingness on behalf of universities here in terms of health promotion and student health and well-being to pursue that. Is that something the Minister would examine during this Presidency? It is an opportunity for Ireland to give leadership on this issue, and it is not too difficult to achieve. Ash Ireland is very keen to see it happen. Is that something the Minister would look to achieving? I believe smoke free campuses would be well worthwhile.

The Minister also mentioned the teacher education focus. I welcome the focus on quality of outcomes, but how will that happen? What does the Minister expect to achieve at the end of our Presidency in that regard?

In terms of teacher education outcomes, is the Minister focusing on any particular area? Will it be science or IT education? What teacher education outcomes in particular will we focus on during the Presidency?

I am pleased to hear about the validation of formal and informal learning as a priority of the Presidency. How will that work here? Is that to do with our qualifications framework? What is the Minister talking about in that regard? It is useful that we validate forms of learning that take place in Foroige clubs, for example, because they often reach the children in ways that schools cannot do and if that was validated it would give a new status to those informal learning settings.