Síle de Valera (Clare, Fianna Fail)

With the permission of the House, I would like to share time with Deputy Ó Fearghaíl.

Last week I was delighted to be able to announce a 12% increase in 2007 in the financial provision for the adult and further education sector, compared with an increase of roughly 8% for the Department of Education and Science as a whole. Adult and further education expenditure will rise to approximately €169 million in 2007. Since taking responsibility for adult and further education, I have increased the budget by 56%, or 50% since 2002.

The additional funding for 2007 provides for a 21% increase in the budget for adult literacy and community education which will allow for 3,000 additional literacy places. That will bring the total number of such places to 38,000, compared with 28,000 in 2002. The increased literacy provision includes €1 million to allow a doubling of the fund for intensive literacy tuition as a result of the very positive evaluation of an intensive literacy project piloted last spring. That project enabled literacy and numeracy learners to participate in a programme of six hours per week for 14 weeks, compared with the current provision of two hours.

The increase of €3.5 million for Youthreach in 2007 will allow an expansion in the number of places by 400, bringing the total to approximately 3,700. An increase of €1.35 million for the expansion of part-time options under the back to education initiative in 2007 will allow the number of training places to increase by 1,000 to 9,000, catering for in excess of 24,000 participants. This year for the first time child care assistance which is already provided in VTOS, Youthreach and senior Traveller centres will also be provided for those participating in the back to education initiative. A sum of €1 million has also been provided for the further roll-out of the adult educational guidance initiative which is now almost nationwide.

Looking to the future of the PLC sector specifically, I announced last week, in parallel with publication of the 2007 Estimates, that provision would be made to enable my officials to table proposals and enter into negotiations with management and unions. The aim of the negotiations will be to arrive at an agreement that will enhance the programmes and services provided for those attending post-leaving certificate courses.

Funding for youth work has increased by 14% on the figure for 2006. Since I took responsibility for the sector in 2002, there has been a 123% increase in funding. This means an increase of €6.2 million on the figure for 2006. The 2007 Estimate is therefore €51.2 million. There has been an increase of nearly €5.9 million, or 16%, on the figure for 2006 for the main funding line that supports the 31 national and major regional youth work organisations, the special projects for youth scheme, a network of 32 youth information centres, as well as other youth initiatives. The 2007 provision will now be €42.6 million. There will also be an increase of €336,000 on the figure for 2006 for the young people's facilities and services fund, bringing the total to over €8.5 million. This refers specifically to young people at risk.

Increased funding for 2007 will enable continued delivery on the following priorities: increased support and baseline funding for organisations funded under the youth services grants scheme; the continuing development of special projects for youth to two-worker projects, as well as increased support in baseline funding; extra financial support to meet the costs arising from the newly introduced Garda vetting procedures for the youth work sector; and the further roll-out of the Youth Work Act 2001 and the national youth work development plan as set out in Towards 2016. There is also increased provision to support the national youth work development unit in its remit to research and develop guidelines for youth work, manage and co-ordinate research, and plan innovative initiatives.

Since 2002 there has been an increase of over 50% in spending on school transport and I secured a 9% increase in the 2007 Estimates. Funding will increase from €152 million this year to €165 million in 2007. The overall increase since 2002 is €69 million. In the past 15 months more than 300 additional vehicles have been hired from private contractors to address capacity shortfalls arising from the phasing out of the three-for-two seating arrangements. It is expected that three-for-two seating will have been eliminated by the end of the year. Bus Éireann has given approval to purchase 111 modern second-hand coaches and 50 new dedicated school buses, many of which are already in service. It is expected that the target date of the end of December for one seat with a seatbelt for all eligible students will be met and that the extra funding will increase safety measures such as the extension of the pilot warning flashing lights scheme to school buses in several areas in 2007, with arrangements also being made for advanced training for drivers.

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