Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is no harm.

When it comes to linking up the training process, we must liaise with potential employers. We live in an era of constant upskilling. The days where a person went to national school and that was it are past. Then there was the group certificate, which was enough to get a person a job working for the State in Telecom Éireann or Bord na Móna, or to secure an apprenticeship. Then the system progressed and children needed an intermediate certificate and then the leaving certificate and now it is college. Even a person in a job still needs to train. The other day I was with a doctor who has retired from public practice. He is in his 70s and every month he must go away for a few evenings a week to train and upskill. There are other doctors like him in their 80s who still operate private practices and they must constantly train in new methods. That is the world we live in today. It is not a case of being educated and finding a job, and that is the end of it. The whole area is evolving and what is before us might be right for now but in a couple of years' time further change will be needed.

Liaising with potential employers is vital. We do not want to churn out people for the sake of it; we want to ensure the skills they learn will equip them to find work. Tús is a great scheme but 12 months after joining it, the person is dropped off the edge of a cliff and there is nothing else. We must watch what we are doing. Community employment schemes are great but we must watch what happens to people in the years ahead. It should always be about making sure people will be able to get gainful employment.

Last week, the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, was in Kerry to launch a booklet by KES that for the first time brought all of the opportunities for people to upskill together in one publication. In view of the current environment, people must be versatile and say that although they might have been doing A, they must now train to do B. This booklet gave a comprehensive overview of what is available in the county. I wish those behind the booklet every success, it is a valuable publication.

I would like to see the institute of technology in Tralee being granted university status. It would be good for the county and the institute and I see no reason that the IT could not do it.

I read in one of the reports that there would be a projected annual saving of €3.2 million arising from these proposed measures. That is welcome but I am bothered by other issues. The Minister has tried to deal with the exorbitant cost of books. The company Educate.ie in Castleisland in County Kerry proved beyond all doubt that it can produce school books for all the different curricula at a fraction of the cost being foisted on parents of schoolchildren. The Minister has been proactive on this. We should work to reduce the cost of books because the world we are living in today is one where people can devise new and different methods of producing publications. I visited Educate.ie and saw the excellent work the company is doing. It can still provide jobs and pay people properly while supplying a quality product at a fraction of the cost previously.

The changes in the junior certificate are welcome progress in the examination process. We were always told not to put our eggs in one basket. Young people face many different problems and pressures in their lives that we did not have as young people. A person could spend years studying and then when everything is supposed to be done in one week, the pressure could lead to a bad week where his results would not be a fair reflection of his ability. Continuous assessment is preferable; it is a smarter, more prudent way to adjudicate on a young person's ability to take exams over a longer time and to take into account the work over the course of the year. What weight will be given to each aspect?

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