Brendan Ryan (Dublin North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Bailey and Ms Phelan for their presentation. Ms Bailey suggested that the budget could be increased to €50 million. What is the current budget? Where is the agency coming from in that regard? Is it just a question of resources, or are there issues of organisation, structure and leadership as well? The CSO statistics suggest that there was no difference from 1994 to 2012. It is shocking that the resources invested over those years really had no effect. To what extent is it a resourcing issue? Do we need to revamp the whole approach to this matter?

Ms Bailey indicated that the target for the national skills strategy was to reduce the current figure of 15% of the population with qualifications lower than level 3 to 7% by 2020. Where has that come from? What progress have we made in recent times?

Deputy O'Brien mentioned intensive education courses. Is the agency's objective merely to have those courses available? What about participation levels? This initiative will require people to get involved. What effort is required to get people to the point at which they will really want to get involved? If they see the benefit of it, they will want to get on board.