Liam Fitzgerald (Fianna Fail)

The national skills strategy report has raised some fundamental challenges which I am sure will be embraced with enthusiasm by the Government and turned into opportunities. If one takes the main elements of the report and the key challenges that have been identified, initiatives are already significantly under way to address them in the Departments of Education and Science and Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Examples include the determination to increase the participation level of students in higher education from 55% to 72% and to ensure that all students, to the maximum extent possible, do the leaving certificate or its equivalent. Many initiatives have also been pioneered by the City of Dublin VEC, such as the ESOL programme and other literacy programmes that are funded by the Government to help foreign nationals. In some cases, these programmes cater to 28 different nationalities.

I accept the lacunas identified by Senator O'Toole in different counties need to be addressed. Tomorrow night will afford an ample opportunity for us to address them. A related issue is the manner in which parents drive their children to school in the city and the countryside. They insist on taking precedence at the school door. This is a bad habit for parents to form as they are the primary educators of children. I say this in particular in the context of obesity and other related issues.

I would welcome an opportunity to have a discussion on the national skills strategy report. It would be most illuminating.