Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State. I am deputising for our esteemed colleague and education spokesperson, Senator Healy Eames, who conveys her apologies to the House for her absence. This is a debate for which she has been calling for some time and in which she has a major interest, but unfortunately one of her children is ill and she was obliged to leave at short notice.

The importance of this debate is brought into sharp focus when we consider that almost 423,000 people are currently on the live register. A large proportion of these are young and dislocated workers. Since 2007, employment has shrunk by 27% in the construction sector and 6% in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector. There is a danger that short-term joblessness may lead to long-term unemployment if the correct strategies are not put in place. Those with lower levels of education are more likely to lose their jobs or remain in unemployment. Strategies such as wage restraints, tax initiatives and employment incentives are also critical to putting people back to work but the role of education and further training is on our agenda for today.

Although one would think Ireland has the highest expenditure on education in Europe, that is not the case. A recent OECD survey revealed that 4.7% of GDP is spent on education in this country, compared to an OECD average of 5.7%. We are not at the top in terms of investing in education, even though it is the central mechanism through which we can achieve social justice and put people back to work. A recent ESRI report made the obvious point that the leaving certificate has become the new minimum standard for accessing training and further education. The report also established that people who left school early were the hardest hit by the recession.

Education has to be part of any strategy for dealing with the recession. We need a combination of internships and continuing education for the unemployed. Internships can offer critical learning, networking and confidence building opportunities.

The large number of people who have left school without leaving certificates need to return to formal education and apprenticeship programmes. Many of them were attracted by the high wages offered in the construction and food processing sectors during the Celtic tiger years and are now facing unemployment. Enterprise development programmes can help to develop the skills needed in the export sector. The existing apprenticeship programmes ought to be expanded and those who are caught in midstream because their employers have closed or downsized should be given the opportunity to complete their apprenticeships. The National Adult Literacy Agency has found that expenditure on adult literacy increases employment prospects by a dramatic 12%.

We should expand the schemes which offer students a chance to work or study abroad, particularly in countries with which we have trade relations. Students at all levels of education should have the opportunity to gain overseas experience. Irish people are not able to access certain high end jobs at present because two languages are required. The failure to teach two foreign languages has become a significant barrier to high end jobs in Internet sales and other areas. We must encourage people to study two continental languages in addition to English and other mainstream subjects at second and third levels.

The OECD recently conducted a survey of training and reskilling initiatives. Some countries offer useful models while others have similar strategies to our own. Greece has provided additional places, Italy offers training vouchers to the unemployed, Japan uses income support loans to encourage people to take up training and education opportunities and France has built training incentives into its social welfare code. While the merits of further training are obvious to those of us who are involved in education and politics, it may be necessary to develop a carrot and stick approach for our own social welfare code. Further consideration is needed of the degree to which people should be rewarded for participating in further training and education and, when suitable candidates fail to take up available positions, the appropriateness of penalties. People cannot be forced below a certain standard of living but incentives could be accompanied by penalties such as reductions in income.

The suggestion that the junior certificate should be abolished is appalling and counterproductive in terms of enabling those from a less privileged background to get onto the educational ladder. The junior certificate is a key milestone and important preparation for the leaving certificate and should be maintained. Despite the Minister of State's comments on the number of additional places available on post-leaving certificate courses, these courses remain oversubscribed and waiting lists for places remain long. The overall priority must be to intervene to assist people with low levels of literacy to achieve certification to enable them to climb the educational ladder and ensure those who have acquired educational qualifications are able to further upskill. We must also encourage those who left the education system because they were attracted by the fast buck, as it were, to return to education or training. Education will be critical in economic recovery and reducing unemployment.