James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As always I have a healthy distrust of centralisation and the closure of established bodies in the so-called interest of progress. I am concerned the consolidation of the VECs - which has seen my county of Longford lose out - and the expansion of the role of the education and training boards will be a case of dividing but not conquering. Not only are there huge implications, some negative, for existing VEC staff, there is a perception and worry that the rationalisation of the number of VECs is being driven by financial consideration rather than long-term gain for primary, secondary and post-second level students. Such a drive can also lead to wanton waste of public money, as in the case of Longford VEC which had €2 million poured into it prior to the announcement it had lost out as the headquarters of the amalgamated Longford-Westmeath body. The cost-effectiveness and central location of Longford VEC were ignored for what was regarded as political expediency. Following the closure of Connolly Barracks, this was another major blow for Longford. The facts as admitted by the Minister defy logic. The annual rent paid for the headquarters in County Westmeath is €118,300 per annum as opposed to the nominal sum of €13.33 for the Longford headquarters. Mathematically it looks like someone needs to do more homework because there are no cost savings in this type of carry-on, particularly given the €2 million spent on refurbishing the headquarters in the centre of Longford.

Any reorganisation of training provision needs to embrace the long-overlooked divide between third level university education on the one hand and technical training on the other, and the stigma associated with it. This has been partly dealt with by Deputy Timmins. This needs to be examined at the post junior certificate stage and provision made for technical education for those whose talents lie in this direction. We cannot afford to continue to insist that those who are not suited to academic subjects are forced to be the victims of a narrow system that has only one focus. This is against the principles of many types of IQ, which are now recognised to be way beyond the scope of academic ability. In other words there are many kinds of intelligence.

Neither can we dumb down an academic system which, while not perfect, provides as fair an assessment of ability and potential as possible. Academic ability must, in the interest of the recovery of the country, be encouraged. There is nothing logical about penalising excellence. We need to get over the populist idea of one for everyone in the audience and we must accept that not everyone is suited to academic study and that technical ability is also a talent, which needs to be fostered even more. Creating an equal playing field where each child can achieve his or her potential will never be accomplished by dumbing down education to make a standard template accessible to all. Instead we must embrace difference and allow for specialisation. Most importantly, we must provide a system which allows for such specialisation at a very early age.

We must encourage excellence in all areas. This must not be achieved by change for the sake of change. To follow foolishly the mistakes of the UK system, which is rapidly back-peddling, on assessment and project work in favour of what we already have, namely a strong terminal examination, would be madness and I am afraid that changes to the current junior certificate will lead to such retrograde steps. In line with most of Europe, we need to embrace technical education and university degrees under the one third level umbrella without differentiation. Any distinctions need to be removed giving equal rating and status to all talents, and equal reward regardless of course focus.

When I read the Bill I see a huge focus on finance, potential savings and cost analysis. While essential in the current economic climate, this focus should not be allowed to be the prime driving motivator of change. We are at a crossroads in Irish education and change needs to be made to reflect future requirements. For example, the number of companies in the midlands which cannot get specialist staff to meet their needs and fill vacancies is increasing. In the past year alone, six or seven companies contacted me about their special needs. The outcome has usually been that personnel have been brought in from elsewhere, particularly Canada and the US. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation was very helpful in arranging work visas for people in specialist areas. This country should be able to provide people for these jobs.

It is important to separate the two main provisions in the Bill. These are legislative consolidation and legislative provision for 16 newly configured bodies under the umbrella of the education and training boards. The first can be regarded as a tidying up provision or, if one prefers, another centralisation. It can be regarded as the necessary updating of legislation. The second is a matter of replacement and as I already said, I distrust replacement for the sake of it. For the legislation to be successful, the long-term gain must be for students who will contribute to the expansion of our economic profile.

There is nothing more important for our future than education. It is worthy of investment, and while cost cutting may lead to short-term gain it must not be allowed to impact adversely on our future. We have seen far too much so-called innovation in education which has been detrimental, such as throwing spelling and grammar out the window in favour of creativity. I hope the dissolution of FÁS and the establishment of SOLAS will produce a rational approach to the provision of education and training that will be job centred and student and trainee oriented. However, again there is a risk that too many strands are being centralised and replaced with unknown entities.

I have made numerous representations to the Minister with regard to Lanesboro Community College, a school in my area.

When the convent closed, the VEC and convent were amalgamated and the resulting school is bursting at the seams. There is a huge shortage of space at this vocational school in County Longford. In fact, teachers have to meet parents in the corridors, which is not acceptable in the present climate. I would plead with the Minister to try and focus on providing additional accommodation because the number of students has increased by 80 since September. There is an urgency to the provision of additional accommodation at Lanesboro Community College in County Longford.

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