Gabrielle McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the witnesses for their time this morning. Many of my questions have already been asked. One point on which I would like to focus is appeals. Deputy Collins referred to the set-up situation. I am a little bothered by the responses. Was no research done before all this started? When this was just an idea - was no research done? Was no forecasting done? Did we not know how many students would come into the system in the future? Did we look at how many staff were working in the various VECs around the country that were dealing with this situation prior to the takeover? Was the call situation not examined in advance? Why were there so many calls all of a sudden? There were not that many when responsibility was with the VECs. I appreciate that there are larger numbers of students coming through. Was no forecasting done? If it had been a private business, we would have looked at that in advance. Why were the expectations regarding what was going to come out of the process so wrong? I cannot get my head around that. Was it always planned to outsource all of the activities? Was that never costed? It seems Dublin City ETB decided it was the best man for the job and would put in for it, say whatever it took to get the job and then worry about how to do it afterwards. That is how it looked to me. I was on a VEC and I was not happy at the time that responsibility was taken from the individual VECs. I make no bones about that; I said it at the time. There is an awful lot to be said for local knowledge and having somebody local at the end of a telephone line when a situation arises for a student.

That brings me to the appeals process. I would like to know how the appeals process is run.

I have a situation, for example, in which a person applied and was turned down. He appealed the decision, was turned down again, and then appealed it to the Department of Education and Skills. He had mental health issues at the time, which is why he was not able to do it. He was told his appeal was outside whatever length of time he had, and that was why he was turned down, yet he was outside the time because he had mental health issues. The guy is trying to get himself to a better place and is being refused. That is wrong. There should be somebody who can help that gentleman and get him through this instead of giving him a flat "no". I will make no bones about it: if the case had been with Westmeath VEC, now called Longford and Westmeath ETB, somebody would have looked at the situation and said, "this guy deserves a chance".

I would like someone to go through the appeals process with me. Mr. Burke said earlier that there has to be a level of flexibility in different situations. To my mind, that is not just true for the different departments but also for the student. This guy is trying to make good for himself and is being turned down.