Gerard Craughwell (Independent)
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I thank the witnesses for coming in today and compliment them on the work that all three agencies do. My first question is for the National Economic and Social Council, NESC. Dr. Johnston talks about disability with respect to joblessness. I am looking for a definition of what she describes as disabled. Are we talking about those who are educationally disabled, medically disabled or is it a mix of both?

We talk about a mismatch of skills. Typically, when a large employer leaves an area and there is a mismatch of skills, who is responsible for matching the skills up? I am trying to come to terms with this. Is it for the IDA or a local enterprise scheme to bring in industries that meet the skills that are already there or does Dr. Johnston see a role for ETBs and SOLAS, if one wants to start a skills transition programme, to be immediately activated? For example, if an IT industry pulls out of an area and there is a chance of bringing in chemical industries or some other one, should training programmes be put in place? It strikes me, having come from the ETB sector, that there is not enough cross-departmental co-operation or discussion between the IDA, for example, local enterprise schemes, the ETBs and SOLAS. We tend to operate within our own little areas.

It is good to see Dr. Peter Rigney here. On the ICTU side and on the issue of the minimum wage, as he and I well know, the zero-hours contract has become the poison in Irish employment. We talk about the minimum wage and how it can influence someone's decision to take up work on offer. He referred to the rural issue - Ms O'Brien made the same point - where someone in one town may have an opportunity of getting a job in another town but the cost of commuting renders that job useless. That can be said of getting a job in west Galway city as against living in north Galway city or living in north Dublin and being offered a job in south Dublin. All of these things are relative, if one wants, to the individual. When we look at someone being offered a job, should we be offering some sort of discounted travel to entice him or her?

On the issue of child care, some of the State-run crèches have closed in recent times, including in particular the ETB-run facilities. I spend my time trying to figure out why this happens. Reference was made to the Swedish example of charging €80 per month for the crèche system, compared to €800 per month here. This would probably work out cheaper and crèches might be located beside the local national or secondary school, thereby permitting a one-stop drop-off for children. Issues that are of concern for me include transport, education and the role of the ETBs and SOLAS.

The issue of Traveller education was raised. I had the privilege of visiting Traveller training centres around Dublin over a two-year period. I was stunned by the level of work and commitment demonstrated by students in those centres. Closing them down was the most regressive step ever taken in this country. I do not intend to genderise the matter but typically these centres were attended by the mothers who lived on the sites where they were located. As I recall from my own youth, if Mammy is into education, it is likely that the kids will follow. I recall being told that the boys tended to attend training until the age of 16 or 17 years, at which point they withdrew. An issue probably arises in regard to how we engage with them.

In regard to upskilling and bringing people back to education, only €200 was provided to meet the cost of returning to further education. That is only the tip of the iceberg. I taught in Dún Laoghaire, where the €200 charge was only part of the issue because the cost of course material was more than €1,000. How do we help people to manage that?