Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I want to underline the contribution that further education makes under three headings: the integration of non-nationals into our society, the impact of lifelong learning on the economy, and early school leavers.

Dealing with the last issue first, I want to highlight the Dún Laoghaire report, Moving Beyond the Barriers, which recommended, among other things, that extra learning options should be provided for early school leavers in Further Education and Training Awards Council modules. The report made the point that early school leavers can find it very difficult to return to a secondary school environment to complete their junior or leaving certificate but further education provides a crossover opportunity for them. Such problems are not pronounced in Dún Laoghaire but they exist. Further education has been able to provide a bridge allowing people to return to the education system and thereby move up the ladder through the FETAC modules, in many cases on to higher education.

The impact of lifelong learning on the economy has already been well thrashed out in the Chamber today. As everyone knows, at a time when manufacturing jobs seem to be continually being lost, the Government's stock response is that we must upskill workers and those training so that they are constantly responsive to developments in technology. The further education sector has helped to address that issue by providing training opportunities from which those who have qualified have gone into employment. Few people end up unemployed after qualifying through further education.

I note today that a further 650 jobs are to be created in Cork by amazon.com. While some people are writing the economy's obituary, it is clear that Ireland is still an attractive destination for investment in manufacturing and services. We should not forget that. Although we may wonder why closures such as that at Ballivor occur, we must also acknowledge that the amazon.com phenomenon shows that Cork is still considered a very attractive place in which to invest serious amounts of money. Indeed, about €1 million per worker has been invested in the area, so we should clearly not be so gloomy about the prospects for the economy.

Having attended a number of prizegivings in Senior College Dún Laoghaire and the Cumberland Street college, I know that a large number of non-nationals use further education as a means to begin their education in this country. Although we perhaps lack some vision about how to ensure non-nationals integrate into society, further education provides for such integration a key tool that should be acknowledged.

On the PLC sector generally — I think we are supposed to use the term "further education sector"— I agree that the sector needs to be acknowledged as a separate sector in its own right. As a former teacher of a PLC course, I saw for myself the advantages further education provides for people. I was a teacher in Ballyfermot Senior College for a year so I have no doubt that further education provides people with an opportunity to get on a ladder that will lead them to academic achievement. Indeed, I notice from the website of the Senior College Dún Laoghaire that it is providing new courses in theatre studies and the performing arts. As Deputy Sargent said, the sector is growing all the time and it is flexible.

I welcome the opportunity to debate further education and I urge the Minister to consider implementing some, if not all, of the McIver report's recommendations.

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