Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate what the Minister said about housing and we can return to that.

He probably knows what I am going to ask about. I am interested in the €8 million fund for education disadvantage. I am very excited about the new Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and about the Minister and Minister of State who are working in it.

Some 17.9% of Irish adults are functionally illiterate. Are people aware of that statistic? Do they know what functional illiteracy means? How we can grasp this issue as a country and drive it down? Making our people literate is a major challenge but it is even bigger when people do not even realise the problem exists. That one in six of Irish adults are functionally illiterate should set alarm bells ringing. I am greatly encouraged that the Minister has been to the forefront of raising the matter. He is trying to find solutions and funding mechanisms to tackle it. I ask the Minister to expand on that. Along with other members of this committee I am determined to work with both the Ministers to achieve improvements in that area in the period of this Oireachtas. Many people in all age ranges have that severely debilitating issue, which minimises their capacity to fully engage in Irish society. It is truly crippling. I will continue to ask the Minister how we can work together to highlight it and hopefully resolve it.