Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The reports that encouraged education as a means to get out of poverty were great inventions. One matter for regret over the past 40 years is that when new towns were being built to get rid of slums in Dublin and Limerick, houses were built without proper facilities and they forgot about putting a proper education system in place to ensure the new towns were not just housing units. This created a time bomb in west Dublin and parts of Limerick for which society is paying dearly. I hope we do not make the same mistake again.

I welcome the Bill. It is important we ensure the new system has all the strengths of the old one and enjoys the goodwill created throughout the vocational education sector, not just in adult services but also in those for people with intellectual disabilities. It is important the VECs ensure there will be uniformity among the grant awarding bodies and that there will not be a system whereby one body can interpret the legislation differently from another. I commend this important legislation to the House and am thankful for having had the opportunity to speak on it.

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