Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

Cuirim fíor fáilte roimh an Aire agus déanaim comhghairdeas leis. Ar shon Fhine Gael, tá áthas orm an leasú seo a mholadh.

I second the amendment. I welcome the Minister of State to the House and congratulate him on his appointment. Senator Daly gave us a good quotation at the beginning of his remarks. We should take cognisance of where we stand. A couple of weeks ago the chief executive of Tesco, Sir Terry Leahy, warned that low standards of literacy and numeracy among the young have left the British economy more exposed to competition from countries like India and China. In many ways we in this country face a similar situation.

I speak as a director of adult education in my previous incarnation where I was involved in the provision of adult education in encouraging people back to education. Empowerment through education is the key. We will share common ground in that regard. Access to education of all types for all is important.

It is against that background that my party has put forward our amendment, which recognises "that of the current workforce of 1.43 million, 440,000 have at most lower secondary education, including 165,000 aged 35 or less". I will begin by looking at the provision of third level education for adult and part-time students. Thankfully, there are no fees for full-time students but there is a barrier for mature students who wish to return to full-time education where they must pay fees for third level courses. That anomaly should be immediately rectified. I ask the Minister of State to take a look at it. The cost barrier is a strong one for many trying to attend third level and while the Government motion has listed a plethora of achievements, in one aspect it is just pure rhetoric. The treatment of part-time students and mature students is not reflected in the motion. If we take the Government motion as suggested, then the Government should commit itself to lifelong learning and upskilling people by making these third level course fees free.

The national objective, to ensure that of those attending third level 5% will come from among the disadvantaged and 15% will be mature students, is not being attained. In some universities the achievement is significantly less than the national target despite all the rhetoric about access to third level education. In essence the national targets are not being met. I suggest that the targets in the case of mature students are quite modest by international standards. According to the OECD report Education at a Glance 2007, our spending on all aspects of primary, post-primary and third level education is less than the OECD average. That is hardly commendable in the context of the motion.

This morning in the Irish Independent the director general of FÁS, Mr. Roddy Molloy, issued a strong warning to all of us on the need to upskill our people and the facts facing the economy. What action have we taken or seen on the national skills strategy, outlined as Government policy? Participation by Irish adults in ongoing education and training remains low, at 8%, in comparison with other EU countries. In addition, one third of our workforce have at most lower second level education, of whom 165,000 are below the age of 35. In the context of the national skills strategy, over 500,000 have level three — junior certificate — education or less, of whom 10% have no qualifications, which is frightening.

The White Paper calling for the upskilling of the workforce has never been properly addressed. At policy level there is a need for greater harmony and co-operation between the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Education and Science, which should be working together to create a changing emphasis and pattern regarding third level and access to upskilling of our people.

The national development plan identified significant investment regarding the upskilling of our workforce. The figure involved is €2.8 billion, although I am open to correction. In the context of the Estimates, there is only €3 million in the education fund for FÁS. Will the Minister of State honour the commitment or will we see more cuts in the Estimates in the provision of funding for upskilling and access to education?

We need to expand the national qualifications framework. If I might dwell on that in the context of FETAC, I am all for the national framework of qualifications awards, which are an excellent concept. It has brought all of them in under the one umbrella but, as somebody who has been very involved in the implementation of this and in the day-to-day running of it, I see some anomalies which need to be addressed regarding the on-line use of FETAC. In that context, I ask the Minister of State to provide more resources for FETAC to allow easier access to the website to input examination results and to input the names of students for examination. The FETAC members of staff are second to none and are accessible, but we need to make it easier for providers of adult education to become involved in the FETAC awards scheme.

We seem to have created another tier of bureaucracy with the FETAC award schemes. I do not wish to denigrate FETAC, but we need to make it easier for providers to entice people to take up these courses and to make it more enjoyable for the provider to engage with people. In my experience it has turned people off taking on FETAC courses in the community and voluntary sector.

In the context of our amendment, there is a need to put in place a framework for the implementation of the strategy, for greater co-operation and harmony between the Departments, and to look at the skills strategic vision as outlined through FÁS because there seems to be a deficit. It is a worrying concern. Reading the remarks this morning by Mr. Molloy, one would wonder if the picture painted by Members on the opposite side of the House is different from that which we all face. There has been a great deal of work done and there has been significant investment, but then we have lived in a cash cow economy, although that has now changed. Participation levels are not as good as they should be and are below the OECD average. There are people who are encountering barriers to participation. We are not enticing people to participate as much as we should.

We on this side of the House recognise and will support any efforts and enticements to people to upskill, to participate in further education and training, but there is a need for meaningful implementation of strategies and resourcing which are not evident. There is much rhetoric but there is a need for action. The figures speak for themselves. I commend the Fine Gael amendment.