Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have to say, that was the most non-answer answer I have ever heard in this Chamber. It is not good enough. To suggest the ETBs are fiefdoms making decisions independent of the Government is simply ludicrous. It is the Government that sets policy and allocates budgets, so for the Minister of State to say he is aware of funding constraints within the ETB and further education sector, without acknowledging that the Government has a hand in that, is disingenuous in the extreme.

The problem is that there is a human cost to all this. I have received several emails I could read out to the Minister of State, but I will read an excerpt from one I received recently. A tutor informed me that this had gone on for almost five weeks and that, instead of working, she was facing a difficult job search. She said that at times, this undermined her self-confidence and integrity. She asked us to please make a change for her because, she wrote, it seems the Government does not care. She said I have a direct connection to the Government that may influence its actions.

I again ask the Minister of State whether the Government will intervene in this situation. If it does not, the entire further education sector is going to be undermined.

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