Colm Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This issue relates to the European Globalisation Fund, EGF, and the need to ensure we draw down all the funds available to us. Some €35.7 million was to be made available to us under this fund and I understand that the companies and the names of the people entitled to draw these funds were submitted with the applications over the past 12 months but that the take-up of the fund has not been as expected. It is important we avail of this opportunity to provide retraining for people who have been involved in the construction industry and who are now unemployed as a result of the downturn.

A number of issues arise, first of which is the reason for the slow take-up of the fund. I understand that more than 8,700 letters were sent in December but fewer than 1,000 responses were received. I was informed there were only 452 responses to the 8,779 letters. Why were these letters sent out so late when, as I understand, we have only a five-month period in which to draw down this funding? What type of retraining was offered in those letters?

I raise this matter because one of our national newspapers last weekend raised an issue concerning VEC courses. Over that weekend a number of employers contacted me and advised me that they would not take on people who had done a particular VEC course because the course was so outdated and the training the person would receive would not provide the skills necessary for the job available. While we are talking about upskilling people who have lost jobs, we should also take a look at upskilling or updating the training courses. If there is such a low take-up of retraining, this raises serious questions as to what is on offer. I am aware we must provide funding from the Exchequer for this training, but we have a significant opportunity to access this EGF funding and should avail of it.

In 2009 when the Dell closure was announced, I was involved then in approaching the European Commissioner and seeking amendments to the rules in order that we could accommodate the Dell workers to qualify for retraining grants. The Department and its officials have done a lot of work in achieving further amendments to accommodate the people who have lost their jobs in the construction industry.

We appear to be in a situation where we may not be able to draw down a huge proportion of this funding, anything up to €20 million, as I understand it. Will the Minister of State clarify the current situation and set out exactly what we propose to do in the next two months to improve the situation in order to maximise the drawdown? Is it worth taking on a major advertising programme to encourage people to enter the training process? I ask that this be clarified.