Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

It is nice to see Deputy Haughey back in the House. I am pleased to address this issue, which relates to the McIver report, established in 2003 to review the issue of post leaving certificate courses, PLCs. PLCs were introduced in 1985 and have been a tremendous success with hundreds of thousands of students across the country attending them and becoming better educated. In counties Louth and Meath they have been helpful in giving people additional qualifications in child care, community care and telecommunications and it is great to see them. Last week I attended a graduation ceremony at the Dunboyne Castle Hotel where 150 people graduated and was honoured to present some of the awards. I spoke to a lady who left school at the age of 14, returned to college quite a few years later, graduated from the PLC course and is now studying third level at Maynooth University. This is a great example of what can be achieved. I also spoke to her mother who said she could not keep her daughter at school when she was a teenager and was as proud as Punch to see her presented with her graduation certificate. It goes back to yesterday's debate on the benefits of lifelong learning. I appreciate that much work and funding has gone into this and it brings successes such as the one I have outlined.

We carried out a review by McIver four years ago and that report sought to strengthen the PLC structure. It came up with some specific recommendations, for example contractual teaching hours should be reduced and schools with over 150 students should try to operate separate organisational and management structures. It examined floor area and suggested the issue of space provided for students should be addressed. Since then, many colleges have implemented those recommendations, often on an ad hoc basis and without funding or approval from the Department of Education and Science. I ask the Minister to tell us what are his intentions regarding formalising the implementation of the recommendations in the McIver report.