Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Cummins for raising this matter, as it provides me with the opportunity to outline to the Seanad the position with regard to the funding of community education through the VEC sector. The adult and further education services, including the community education service, are, for the most part, funded by the Department and delivered locally by the vocational education committees. It is open to the groups involved in the non-formal education sector to submit applications to their local VECs for funding for their activities.

Community education refers to education and learning, generally outside the formal education sector, with the aims of enhancing learning, empowerment and contributing to civic society. It is firmly community-based, with local groups taking responsibility for and playing a key role in organising courses and deciding on programme content. The grants provided by the Department to the VECs are to enable disadvantaged adults to avail of community education at minimal or no cost. This is usually allocated through the provision of teaching hours or small grants to a range of community and voluntary groups for educational activities.

The importance of community education lies in the way it extends and deepens the democratic process and can successfully engage those who are most excluded in our society. Community education at its best is concerned to overcome the constraints that limit the potential to participate. It aims to develop the capacity of the more marginalised sectors in the community to participate both in decision making and in the general social and cultural life of society. For that reason, Ministers for Education and Science over the past ten years have sought to develop the community education service. Expenditure has been progressively increased. In 2005, and again in 2006, over €9 million was spent on community education. This year, the funding for community education will be in the region of €10 million.

The back to education initiative provides flexible part-time options for adults who wish to return to learning and serves as a re-entry route to those in the workplace who wish to upgrade their skills. Since its inception in 2002, 10% of places on the back to education initiative programme have been allocated to community groups and are dispersed directly among community groups by the Department. The cost in 2006 was €1.7 million. In 2003, the post of community education facilitator was created in the VECs. Some 37 community education facilitators, CEFs, were employed by the VECs and since then they have been supporting a range of groups around the country. As they have become established in their positions, they have already raised the demand for flexible educational opportunities.

The development of the community education service will continue apace. This year, the Minister will provide an additional €110,000 to consolidate women's participation in community education through the extension and mainstreaming of the AONTAS women's community education quality assurance framework project. This project demonstrates the uniqueness of the work carried out by women's groups and provides a quality benchmark for it. Hundreds of community-based groups across Ireland act as access points for what are termed hard to reach adults who would otherwise be excluded from second chance education. Many of these groups have been founded and led by women. The success of community groups in attracting hard to reach adults lies in their approach, in terms of respect for the individual learner's needs and circumstances and in their ability to provide flexible learning opportunities which take account of those needs and circumstances. Not only do these groups provide access for hard to reach learners, they also have the potential to provide progression routes into further and higher education, training and work. They also play a key role in the development of civil society through their work of empowering communities to participate in policy and decision-making.

Expenditure on adult and further education has increased progressively since 1997. In 2002, expenditure on adult and further education was €113 million. In 2007, it will be approximately €169 million. This represents an increase in the budget of €56 million, or 50%. Increases in the provision for adult education have been a significant feature of every budget in recent years. I was pleased to note that the increase announced in the 2007 Estimates for adult education represents an increase of nearly €19 million, or 12%, as compared with the position in 2006. This compares very well with the increase in the overall departmental provision of 8%.

Annual grants to the City of Waterford VEC for community education have followed the pattern of the overall grant by being increased annually. In 2002, funding amounted to €94,000. It has increased each year since then and in 2006 was €138,000.

The VEC will shortly be notified of its funding provision for this year. The Department, as an exceptional measure, recently approved an application from the City of Waterford VEC to transfer an excess on its adult literacy programme to offset a deficit that arose on its community education programme at the end of 2006. This transfer of funds alleviated in full the deficit arising on the community education programme last year. Furthermore, following a request in January, an advance of this year's funds was made to enable the VEC to continue to provide all its existing programme of classes in its community education programme. The City of Waterford VEC has informed my Department, in response to an inquiry, that no classes have actually ceased on the pretext that they are not specifically aimed at target groups.

I am anxious that VECs expand their community education services as much as possible. However, as demand for funding always exceeds supply, the expansion of the service must be governed by budgetary restraints. Even so, and bearing in mind that the discretion of VECs must be respected, I would be happy to consider any particular problem in the administration of the service that arises from unforeseen or exceptional circumstances.