Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are a total of 11 Seanad amendments before the House and they relate to criteria for giving ministerial consent, accounts and accountability, gender balance and drafting matters.

Amendment No. 1 relates to section 22 of the Bill. This section provides that an education and training board, ETB, may, with the Minister's consent, enter into an arrangement with a different education or training provider for the joint performance of any of the board's functions. An ETB may also, with the Minister's consent, provide support services to another education or training provider if that provider requests this. The Minister also is empowered to direct a board to perform functions jointly with another provider or to provide support services to the provider. This can only happen where there is a request from the provider. The amendment made on Committee Stage in the other House introduces criteria to which the Minister must have regard in deciding whether to give a direction or indeed his consent. The criteria include existing provision and the future needs for education and training in a particular area, the desirability of providing a diverse range of opportunities for learners, the best use of resources, the expertise, skills and experience available in an ETB and the other education provider, the capacity of the ETB to co-operate or provide support services, and the opportunity to share resources and knowledge for the benefit of students and learners. All these criteria will be of significant help to any future Minister in weighing up decisions in this area pertaining to directing or consenting to certain actions by ETBs and their relationships with other education or training providers.

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