Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I would like to make a point on this issue and I am jumping into the deep end again on behalf of my colleague. We want to ensure community education providers are named as a provider group in the legislation. They believe it is important that they are included in it. As the Chairman said, the community education sector has been a powerful force in supporting people to engage or re-engage in education, leading to positive benefits both for them and their families, personally and economically. We want to ensure the provision of community education services is secure in the change being made to the further education and training structures. As the Chairman rightly said, the community education sector in all our constituencies has played a pivotal role in the provision of further education for those in society who are less well off and marginalised.

We have all been contacted by the various providers within our constituencies who are concerned that they are not specifically identified in the legislation. Certainly we would support the naming of community education as a provider group within the legislation.