Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful to the Ceann Comhairle for reselecting this particular Topical Issue matter and, indeed, to the Minister for making himself available at this very late hour.

As previously discussed with the Minister and, indeed, Education and Training Boards Ireland, ETBI, in recent weeks, there is a clear deficiency in further and higher education facilities in Fingal, specifically, in Swords, the county town and one of the fastest growing communities in the country with a population expected to exceed 100,000 people in the next decade.

The services are currently met by facilities which are perhaps reflective of prior policies of 20 or 30 years ago. The emphasis the Minister has placed on the enhancement of further and higher education in Ireland is welcome, including the very significant increase in budgets that the education and training boards, ETBs, have mentioned for delivery nationwide. Swords in particular, with such a dense population, offers the possibility of developing and delivering additional educational facilities that can unlock skills and take Ireland into the next decade. As the climate action spokesperson for my party, I know it is vital for a carbon-neutral society that we deliver upon the likes of the retrofitting scheme with the necessary skill sets. Clearly, this will be a dramatic area of growth in the coming years, not to mention the range of other training available across the State, and through apprenticeships.

It is extraordinarily important to see the further education and training, FET, feature that is available on CAO applications this year. I commend the Minister on his relentless focus on this much neglected area of education and the development of apprenticeships in existing and emerging sectors, such as cybersecurity and other technology which will emerge in the coming years as vital.

Fingal is the most diverse and youngest community in the country and it is the youngest community in Europe. On that basis, there should be significant further investment by the Department in Swords and in communities like Balbriggan, which again has seen dramatic growth in recent decades. Fifteen years ago the population of Balbriggan was 6,000 to 7,000 and now it is in excess of 20,000. However, there are gaps and I believe that Fingal is one such gap that can be addressed, in particular with the additional emphasis that has been placed by the Government and the Minister on this sector. In order to meet the need to give people the option both at local and national level to meet the skills required in the coming decades, it is crucial that we invest in the long-term health of the nation and its long-term education. Moreover, by providing these services in areas of maximum impact that will be key to this goal, Swords offers the Department a chance to make a significant impact on a young and growing population. I fully expect the coming census to show the population is far above 55,000, if not 60,000. I hope the Minister, along with the Education and Training Boards Ireland and the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board, DDLETB, will look upon it as a suitable location given its proximity to the city but also the significant young population that is located there.

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