James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

ETBs are getting more money than they have ever got before and the funding gap that was identified has been plugged and filled in full by this and other measures. There is no shortfall in the funding given to them. In actual fact they have had more money given to them this year than ever before. It is actually at an historic high. How the ETBs manage that and what decisions they make at local level in terms of what courses to advance, what courses to increase and what courses to cut back on is entirely up to the ETB boards.