Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the issue of further education and training. This is a particularly important subject in the current climate of high unemployment among those who have skills in an industry which is no longer creating jobs. Many left college or school to work in construction. They fell out of education because a more handsome living could be made in a sector which was creating employment and opportunities at the time. Many of these individuals now find themselves in limbo and the vast majority are young men. Unfortunately, many of them are either unemployed at home, trying to enroll in a course of choice or working abroad. That is the sad aftermath of the Celtic tiger and the construction industry boom.

I concur with Senator Feargal Quinn on taking a holistic approach to education. It is important not only to focus on the participant but also to be forward thinking in regard to where we are going as a country in the next 20 to 30 years. We have to ask ourselves what types of jobs will be available in ten or 20 years time. I was often critical of the educational element of FÁS as providing courses as knee-jerk reactions. Long after the construction sector had collapsed, courses in stone work, brick laying and plastering were being offered to young men. There was no change in the organisation.

As a country and on behalf of the people, we and the Government must look at what is coming down the tracks and how we should plan for that. Senator Quinn was right that we must start at preschool and primary school level and carry on into secondary school level. We must look at issues like language. Irish people are applying for jobs now, but many of them are not being called for interview because they do not have the correct language skills on their CVs. We must look at that. We must also look at IT skills, communication skills and all that revolves around these. We are now living in a multimedia society and 54% of web browsing is now done from a mobile phone. The idea of sitting behind a computer desk is changing. This area will continue to evolve and job opportunities will arise through the new technology in the years ahead. SOLAS should contain some kind of technology hub, particularly as it is responsible for the policy element of driving this agenda. The education and training boards come under the second piece of legislation and they will drive training and education. However, we must have a forward-thinking policy unit within SOLAS to look at what is coming down the tracks, to adapt to that and to plan ahead for five, ten, 15, 20 and even 30 years.

Career guidance is a vitally important area. Many children at secondary level and many young adults out of work need support in the area of career guidance. Unfortunately, career guidance hours have been cut drastically in second level. I believe it has never been more important to have career guidance at second level as it is now, because people heading for third level need that help now. They need help from professional career guidance teachers. The reduction in the number of hours for career guidance should be reversed.

I have many other points I wish to make, but I may forward them to the Minister. For example, the Pathways to Work document published by the Government focuses on the labour activation measures and does not take into consideration, for example, the accessibility and quality of job placements, guidance and counselling services, the relevance and quality of training and the education programmes available. Soft skills relate more to what can be provided through guidance and counselling services and these are important to young people. They need to be equipped with these skills.

I touched on the need for a root and branch review of the courses currently available. There are 270,00 people undertaking courses at the present time within FÁS, community schemes and private operations across the range of further training and education, FTE, courses. Many of these courses are very good, but many of the individuals undertaking them do not want to be on those courses. The courses they want to be on are full or are not available. There will be new opportunities with the new structures being put in place, but these must be adaptable and forward-thinking. The courses of relevance to people who want to participate in them must be made available. Private providers must be adaptive also. If funding is being made available by the educational training boards to private providers, those providers have an obligation to provide adaptive, foward-thinking courses. Perhaps I will send on details of some of the points I wished to make to the Minister.