Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State's comments and the publication of this programme. It is very necessary. I draw his attention to a fact in which his colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy White, will be interested. The normal number of participants to make a course viable in Carlow IT is 60. However, in regard to one of three courses, namely manufacturing, the threshold of requirement was 20. An applicant was told there is not a sufficient number of people interested in this area. The Minister of State, Deputy White, will confirm that there is, sadly, a significant amount of unemployment in Carlow. The person in question, who has written to me about this, said there is little or no publication, either in the labour exchanges or other areas of public advertising, to draw attention to this. There were three courses in question, all run by the lifelong learning department at Carlow Institute of Technology. In the case of the course that did not proceed — the certificate in good management practice at level six — the Minister of State may well have been told by the college authorities that they are still trying to recruit people for it. As of now, however, this course has not proceeded.

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