Jim D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Subhead B5 on page 21 of the Department's briefing document deals with grants to SOLAS for further education and training activities. There are five education and training boards which do not have direct control over training activities in their functional areas. We have created children of a lesser God in the sense that five out of 11 boards must work under the chief executive officer of the adjacent board. I am not sure that is the best way of delivering skills training in these areas or the best use of resources. Will the Minister comment on that issue?

The Bills establishing the education and training boards and SOLAS, both of which were initiated in the Seanad, are two of the most important to be passed during my time in the Oireachtas. Is it time to designate the further education sector as a discrete sector with its own dedicated budget? As it stands, how, for example, does it fit into the summer works scheme? Are further education colleges able to avail of the scheme in the same way as second level schools?