Michael Conaghan (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegations. It was interesting to listen to their presentations. I wish to comment briefly on the sector. The strength of the sector lies in its history, which goes back deep into the 19th century, particularly in continental Europe. Since then, the challenge of the continuum between the individual skills and work has been tackled by educational providers very successfully, whether by direct educational apprenticeships or through other preparatory courses. This is at the heart of its success, and something that has succeeded for so long gives great confidence and competence to the providers today. The tradition and history of something is important to its current success and credibility, and the sector has credibility. One need only consider the colleges in Ballyfermot, Inchicore, Crumlin and Coolock. Young people who never had a sniff of further education are flocking to these colleges. They are overcrowded and students cannot get into them because the word on the ground is that if a person goes there he will get something out of it, not something vague but something practical and real. Of course there will be certificates, garlands and presentations, but there is something real as well. This is the secret of it. It is a secret that has been well kept for a long time. There has been an extraordinary level of courses. Let us consider Ballyfermot College of Further Education, for example, which has rewritten an entire genre of film-making from scratch. Other colleges have had equally successful experiences in different categories of the world of work.

There is an equation involving the individual and work and how we bridge the gap and provide a safe crossing over the chasm. This is what these initiatives have done. It is extraordinary but it is not properly understood by people who write about it. I happen to know a little about it because I was in it for a long time. I hated leaving it and I might to go back to it. Anyway, this has opened up a world for people from various social classes who, at 17, 18 or 19 years of age, had never been inside a college, and it has transformed their lives. It is an extraordinary development. Part of its success is that when something has history behind it, it gives a person two things: competence and confidence. The talk of changing structures is peripheral. The message is the same even if the way of delivering it has been modified a little. It is simply technological change, but the basics never change. There are human beings and there is the desire to work and be productive. That much is eternal and never changes. I commend the work that the deputation is doing because it is undervalued, but it is very valuable.