Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I share the concerns the Deputy expressed and agree with him. The kind of work FÁS did in the 1980s and 1990s is no longer appropriate to the needs of the labour market. The announcement I made on Monday of 6,000 new places for Springboard is much closer to what people actually want because the skills level of the labour market has been improved and the demand from industry for the jobs for which there currently are vacancies is in the high-tech space and in other areas. This was not really the traditional remit of FÁS, which was dominated by the construction sector. We will be changing the traditional pattern of delivery but there will be no gap or lacuna between moving from what FÁS is currently doing to what needs to be done by Solas and the 16 delivery agencies under the local education and training boards.

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