Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Let us face it. Not everybody who is elected speaks Irish. I myself was on these boards. I speak reasonable Irish but I would not call it brilliant by any means. I would have been quite challenged in the crossfire of the debate, in terms of comprehending and contributing.

An excellent point was raised about SOLAS. Would the Minister clarify and specify the role of the ETB in SOLAS? This is significant. What was FÁS will now be SOLAS. There are 250,000 who lost their jobs since the recession took hold and they have training needs to prepare for the future, whatever that may bring. We need vision in SOLAS to predict the needs and create the future. We also need the right provision and quality.

I will finish with a little story. Last week I provided, with a local group, a jobs event for those who are out of work. People said to me, "Fidelma, why bother? Is the Department of Social Protection not doing it? Is what was FÁS not doing it?", but 90 people showed up to it. The key event they want is to analysis their skill set and work out which skills are transferable to fit the needs of now and the future. Correct provision is critical because providing the same, when there is no longer a market for it, is rubbish.

I support what Senators Barrett and Jim D'Arcy stated about quality. If the person delivering it is not good, the student will walk away. One may have an ETB or SOLAS proclaiming we are offering it, but the customer will walk and talk.

I would flag these areas as the areas in which provision is needed. I myself am looking at developing a creative centre in Galway for this to run alongside the second level system, involving language learning, digital learning, mathematics and logic, learning how to learn, creative writing, and creative thinking.