John Minihan (Progressive Democrats)

I welcome the Minister of State and her officials to the House. I also welcome the statements I have heard today. In April of this year, I voiced serious concerns in this House about adult and further education. I sneaked my comments in under the radar when statements were being made on youth affairs. I would not have done so had I realised today's debate would take place. During the earlier debate, I expressed my unease about the PLC and further education sector.

Ireland's education system has been the basis for the rapid economic progress we have made in recent years. In his Budget Statement, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, stated that a disproportionate amount of emphasis is placed on taxation policy as the key element in our economic success. While taxation has been extremely important, the single biggest contributor to our success has been the availability, to both indigenous and foreign investors, of an exceptionally well-educated workforce. There are many aspects to this issue, including the sound basis of our primary and secondary curricula, although I have some reservations about the points system, pressure on students and the issues of subject choice and incentivisation. Another aspect is the proud and distinguished performance of our students and educators at third level.

I have expressed the view in this House and elsewhere, that we must be in a position to provide targeted investment in third level education. We must also adopt a strategy that insures that investment delivers the excellence that is so closely associated with the Irish education system. While this becomes increasingly complex as we move away from being a natural economy to a knowledge-based one, the measures outlined in the last budget, the developments on foot of the Fottrell report and the very significant programme announced last Sunday, demonstrate that the Government and my party are committed to maintaining that standard of excellence.

Our primary, secondary, third and fourth level sectors are producing the goods for our students, economy and society and are getting the recognition and attention they deserve. I regret to say, however, that the same is not true for the adult and further education sector, although I must stress that my criticism is meant to be constructive. On 6 April last, I made reference to a negative stereotype regarding education and in particular, the post-leaving certificate sector, which holds that further education and PLC courses are only for disadvantaged students. This is a crass and uninformed viewpoint that may contribute to a situation where PLC courses become the Cinderella of our education system.

Ten years ago there were 18,000 enrolments on PLC courses. Now there are over 30,000 enrolments, which is greater than the number of school leavers entering the third level sector every year. A national network of over 250 centres delivers PLC courses in vocational, secondary and community schools, providing over 1,000 courses in more than 60 disciplines. I am concerned that the stereotype suggests that the 30,000 PLC students are in some way settling for these courses and accepting second best because they did not achieve their preferred choice. This is nonsense. The fact that many students opt for PLC courses as their first preference seems to be lost on some people. Many people seek specific training or an alternative educational experience that has a focus on work. The problem with the lazy stereotype is that it may have negative repercussions for the treatment of the sector. In fact, the sector has received less than satisfactory treatment in the past 20 years.

My contribution to the debate in this House ten weeks ago focused on the McIver report. While I do not wish to repeat the points I made previously, it is important to point out that despite being commissioned by the Department of Education and Science in 2002 to review the further education sector, Mr. McIver's recommendations had not been implemented when I spoke. Therefore, it was with a sense of hope rather than expectation that I checked on what has happened in recent months.

We must acknowledge that the Government's commitment to the PLC sector, if assessed in terms of pay, non-pay running costs and student support and certification costs, is not insignificant. The number of PLC places has increased by 60% in the past decade. The number of PLC places approved last year increased by 1,600 on the previous year. Maintenance grants have been extended to PLC students, with almost 8,000 grant holders receiving approximately €23 million in direct support last year. There have been other positive developments in the area of tuition fees for PLC courses, non-pay budgets in respect of running costs and non-pay grants and capital funding for work at 11 post-leaving certificate colleges.

What of the broader McIver recommendations? The McIver report contains 21 overarching recommendations, incorporating a further 91 subrecommendations.