Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. In principle, the Labour Party supports the idea of the rationalisation of VECs. We have all been living with the uneven nature of very large and substantially sophisticated VECs by virtue of their volume and the much smaller ones to which the Minister of State referred. The announcement was made on 12 October, just under one month ago. Legislation is promised in the New Year.

Has a working party been established in the Department? Is there a person whose sole task is to drive this project? When will he or she meet the CEOs of the VECs? When does the Minister of State think he will have a draft programme on the implementation of the Bill? Any organisation that is trying to deliver a service such as daily and adult education finds it difficult enough in these times and to have the uncertainty of its future hanging over its head does not motivate staff or create good productivity.

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