Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I accept what the Deputy said about the challenges we face at this time because of the rise in unemployment. Further and higher education have a role to play as do FÁS and the training agencies generally.

The 51,000 places announced by FÁS are part of the overall provision of 79,000 places provided by FÁS training services. This has come about in the main due to a change in the model of training provision internally in FÁS which has resulted in maximising existing resources and methodologies to deliver an increased volume of service to the number of people announced.

These challenges in the provision of further education and training and higher education generally are recognised by the Department of Education and Science. As I said, it is open to vocational education committees and the institutes of technology to bid for the provision of appropriate courses. There is a tendering process in place. At the end of the day, a tendering process gets value for money, of which we must be conscious.

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