Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I refer to the three points raised. The budget for adult education is €392 million, which is a highly significant amount and is targeted at a number of different areas because a flexible approach must be adopted to reach that particular cohort of people. The programme for Government has set out that it must be flexible to cover all the areas I have mentioned.

The Youthreach places will be expanded this year to meet the needs of that group of vulnerable young people. The Deputy asked about free fees for approved part-time courses, which is a commitment under Towards 2016. What has happened is that the Higher Education Authority has developed proposals for a modular accreditation programme that allows flexibility in the manner in which people are able to undertake the courses. Such individuals will receive a substantial fee subsidy as part of that initiative. Deputy Hayes might be interested to learn the third level institutions intend to start this process in October in Tallaght——

See this speech in context