Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 103: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the number of successful applicants that have accepted a place on courses offered through the Labour Market Activation Fund to date in 2010; the number of courses that have not proceeded due to insufficient interest from the public; the number of places not proceeding due to insufficient interest from the public; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33512/10]

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Labour Market Activation Fund, which I launched in March of this year, is designed to assist in the creation of innovative training and education provision by private, not-for-profit and public sector providers. It is targeted at specific priority groups among the unemployed, namely, the low skilled, and those formerly employed in declining sectors, such as the construction, retail and manufacturing sectors, with particular emphasis on the under 35s and the long-term unemployed. Following an open tender competition in which 370 tenders were received, offers of funding were initially made to 26 organisations across the private, not-for-profit and public sectors to support specific training and education programmes for the priority groups.

On 5 August, the Minister for Education and Skills announced the allocation of an additional €12 million to the fund, raising it to €32 million in all. This has enabled my Department to offer funding to 33 additional projects from a range of private and public training and education providers. This will bring to almost 60 the number of projects throughout the country being supported by the Labour Market Activation Fund.

The commitment of additional moneys to the fund recognises the quality and diversity of the programmes tendered, and the overall level of demand evident for these programmes, and will bring to 12,000 the total number of places available to the unemployed supported by the fund. Without exception, all of the projects approved for support indicated their acceptance of the funding offered. In particular, all of the 33 projects benefiting from the extra €12 million funding that I made available last month have been actively involved in promoting their programmes and recruiting participants for training and education programmes scheduled to come on stream over the coming weeks and months. Overall indications of interest and applications from would-be programme participants to date confirm the popularity of courses on offer. While there has been some variability in the pace of applications across programmes, no programme has not proceeded due to insufficient interest from the public to date. Several programmes have yet, however, to complete their recruitment processes.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I welcome the Minister of State's comments and the publication of this programme. It is very necessary. I draw his attention to a fact in which his colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy White, will be interested. The normal number of participants to make a course viable in Carlow IT is 60. However, in regard to one of three courses, namely manufacturing, the threshold of requirement was 20. An applicant was told there is not a sufficient number of people interested in this area. The Minister of State, Deputy White, will confirm that there is, sadly, a significant amount of unemployment in Carlow. The person in question, who has written to me about this, said there is little or no publication, either in the labour exchanges or other areas of public advertising, to draw attention to this. There were three courses in question, all run by the lifelong learning department at Carlow Institute of Technology. In the case of the course that did not proceed — the certificate in good management practice at level six — the Minister of State may well have been told by the college authorities that they are still trying to recruit people for it. As of now, however, this course has not proceeded.

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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This initiative was announced in last December's budget and further moneys became available during the course of the year. Given the serious unemployment situation, providers throughout the State were called upon to rally to the cause and to come up with proposals at short notice. Private providers are providing 21 projects, the VECs are providing 13, the third level sector is providing 19, and the community and voluntary sector is providing six. Should it emerge in the coming weeks that certain programmes or courses are undersubscribed or are experiencing difficulties, my Department will work closely with the providers concerned to ensure they are afforded the greatest possible latitude in order to maximise participation rates and ensure participants who have already signed up can be facilitated.

I welcome the information the Deputy has given. This is a learning process for us in many respects and the programme will be thoroughly reviewed in the context of ensuring further provision. However, if there are cases such as the Deputy referred to in Carlow and elsewhere, my Department will liaise with the providers in question to see what can be done.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I appreciate the generosity of the Minister of State's reply. I will furnish him with the precise details. I understand this is the first time his Department has had substantial experience of dealing directly with the institute of technology sector and that there may have been a breakdown in communication. If the particular applicant to whom I referred cannot be accommodated in the course for which she is qualified, perhaps she may be able, if there is some flexibility, to participate in one of the other two courses based at Carlow Institute of Technology.

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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We will certainly look into the case. The programme should allow for that type of flexibility.