Mr. Phil O'Flaherty:

There are a probably a couple of points to be made. Ms Ryan raised the issue of the role of the Intreo offices. As members are probably aware, there was some major reconfiguration of further education and training and the employment service whereby training, delivered by FÁS in the past, moved to newly-created education and training boards, the former vocational education committees, that also delivered vocational education.

There are protocols in place locally with all the Intreo offices and the education and training boards. That is giving Intreo offices a much greater visibility as to the full range of education and training offerings that are out there where previously most of the referrals would have been to the training side because the employment and training side were together in FÁS at one point. That includes quite a lot of part-time provision - for example, the back to education initiative and a range of programmes at various levels, including in areas like literacy, numeracy, digital skills and basic skills.

More broadly, in further education, training and, indeed, higher education, there is a major push to increase the range of flexible options available. Members will be aware of the Springboard programme, for example. Springboard was previously heavily pushed towards people who were unemployed, were on jobseeker's assistance or benefit but now it has been opened up much more broadly and provides good options, including for people in employment, which may include people with disability. There has been a considerable push and some funding through the higher education funding mechanisms, through the Higher Education Authority, and also in further education, through SOLAS, on technology-enhanced learning, with blended approaches. That is through both the use of technology in classrooms, which is something that can be very important to people with disabilities, and also online, with blended approaches which deliver greater flexibility. It is reasonable to say that those protocols have been in place for two years for Intreo offices and ourselves.

Our Department, SOLAS and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection regularly meet on a tripartite basis to review how that is working locally. As the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection broadens its focus more clearly beyond people who are unemployed - and some capacity maybe has freed up in Intreo services - our Department also needs to look at how we can support the broader range of clients that are likely to come our way. That is a focus of our discussions too.