Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank both Ministers for the comprehensive presentations and on behalf of all members of the joint committee, I put on record their thanks to Senator Clune for the work she has undertaken. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, mentioned the word "improvements" in respect of the visa system seven or eight times but left it dangling there without giving members an idea of what they might be. He might provide members with a suggestion in that regard or perhaps this is a subject he probably wishes to deal with in written form. Second, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation is in discussions with the Department of Justice and Equality on the subject of IT visas. Is there a timeline or deadline for those discussions? The Minister, Deputy Bruton, has referred to Commissioner Andor's figures that 700,000 ICT jobs would be available by 2015 and that the forecast shortage of IT practitioners by then will be up to 384,000. Is this an issue Ireland will prioritise during its forthcoming Presidency of the European Union, given the importance of ICT professionals to both Ireland and Europe? Perhaps shared initiatives could be conducted on a Community-wide basis and is this a matter to which the Minister has given consideration? Finally, in the appendix to the Minister's presentation, he outlined that just over 2,000 jobs have been announced this year but I note the PayPal jobs are not included. Is this simply a mistake? Were they to be added, that would be 3,000 jobs. How many of the aforementioned jobs will be filled this year? How many will be filled from within the jurisdiction and how many must leave the jurisdiction?

I have a couple of questions for the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn. The benchmarking exercises at second, fourth and sixth classes are very important in respect of numeracy and literacy. If something is picked up at second class or at fourth class level, it can be dealt with within the school. However, what happens at sixth class? When such a pupil leaves primary school to go to secondary school, does he or she get abandoned or is there a follow-through? I acknowledge the Minister intends to follow through in the second year of secondary school but that will have been two years later. Is there a risk that such students may get lost? Second, does literacy pertain to traditional literacy, the English language, or will we be ambitious and consider IT literacy? Will consideration be given to initiatives such as CoderDojo or the new languages our children must get into?

As for junior cycle reform, this is the first time I have had the chance to hear the detail. I believe the Minister needs to hit the road nationwide in this regard, as there is a complete lack of understanding. The only discussion one will hear about junior cycle reform concerns the abolition of the examination. Those of us who did the examination probably think those who will not be obliged to sit it will be getting away easy, but the proposals contain some interesting and exciting things. As a general observation, this must be communicated, especially to parents, who are only hearing one version of what this looks like. I was excited by the prospect of locally-designed short courses, which sound interesting. The Minister indicated there was a menu of seven such courses and perhaps he could provide members with the aforementioned menu. He also mentioned visits to industrial estates and activities that are already happening to a certain extent. I ask that efforts be made to engage with real business practitioners as well. I worked for a business organisation and rather than simply dealing with organisations, one must try to engage with real practitioners in the design of such courses, for them to be meaningful and not what one perhaps reads about in textbooks and so on.

The institutes of technology and all the third level institutions appeared before the joint committee last week and the institute of technology sector is doing some phenomenal work. In my judgment, it has been far more responsive to the events of the last four years then has any other sector in third level education. However, to give the Minister an idea, the joint committee asked all the third level representatives how many places they were offering on courses pertaining to construction today, as opposed to in 2008, but members were unable to get an accurate figure. While one would have assumed there had been a big drop, which had been replaced by IT, some work needs to be done in this regard.

Finally, the Minister, Deputy Quinn, noted it has taken ten years even to get to the present position in respect of junior cycle reform and that it would be a further eight years before it is fully embedded in the system. What changes will be made within the Department to ensure it will not be necessary to repeat this exercise and that the system can evolve to match the way in which the world changes as rapidly as is the case at present? Can the Minister leave in place some form of system that measures and delivers change as quickly as the world is changing?