Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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I also welcome today's guests. I have a small number of questions.

In his conclusion of the City and Guilds presentation, Mr. Sheridan spoke of how the limited collaboration between stakeholders was impeding matters. Perhaps he could expand on that.

The area that I wanted to touch on was SOLAS and its five-year strategy, which is being developed and will be published at the end of March. There is a significant challenge, particularly when it comes to the provision of community education. One of the tasks that Mr. O'Toole will oversee is the development of new programmes to ensure not only value for money in the provision of programmes but also social inclusion. It is a balancing act. If one looks at the role of community education, often it targets the most disadvantaged in society and the local community. In talking about getting those who are most disadvantaged, many of whom may have been out of the system for a considerable period, back into education, those participants will need additional supports. As Ms Brady pointed out, one must go at the pace of the learner. That would be different from some of the programmes provided through the further education and training, FET, sector, which are time-intensive. There is a balancing act and I wonder how that will be achieved. Maybe Ms Brady could comment on it as well.

From the meetings last week and this week, there seems to be an opinion gathering - Mr. O'Toole mentioned it in his presentation, as did QQI - on the possibility of providers networking to achieve better outcomes in terms of both education and value for money. I wonder whether Ms Brady could comment on that, as somebody who represents adult learners and who is the voice of advocates of adult learners. I am not saying it is a bad idea; certainly, there is merit in it. It is something that individual providers should be looking at. I merely wonder whether she could comment on it.