Deirdre Clune (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have an opportunity to speak about the Bill and I congratulate the Minister for bringing it to this point. We badly need a co-ordinated focus on further education and training and co-ordination will play a very important part.

FÁS had a bad name but, as the Minister pointed out, the legislation will not redraw the organisation. It will co-ordinate FÁS courses and improve further education and training facilities.

It was important that the Minister laid out how SOLAS will operate. SOLAS will prepare a national five-year strategy involving consultation with both Houses. Therefore, we will know its direction and what content will be provided to service users, the most important element. The strategy will give certainty to people who avail of further education and training and will ensure courses are essential and reach a certain standard.

I welcome the fact that SOLAS will determine the type of education programmes to be funded and delivered. I hope it will work in consultation with the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs which regularly prepares valuable reports for various sectors. The group does not get much air time in these Houses. The group will get attention from SOLAS which will establish and deliver the skills required for industry.

I am a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. Therefore, I am aware that Fastrack to IT, FIT, recently produced an excellent ICT skills audit. It examined various sectors and discovered that there are vacancies in games development, web development, call centres, cloud computing of games, etc. It also examined the entry level requirements, competencies and necessary expertise. We are all familiar with the headline that there are 4,500 vacancies in these companies but there are many vacancies in other companies too.

The FIT report was broken down into the exact needs at various levels and the type of skills required. We do not need everyone to be a Java programmer or have a high competency in ICT. There are many areas such as media which require people who are competent in using technology but need to be supported. SOLAS will do the important work of co-ordinating training. It will give everyone confidence in the system and prove that it works well.

Everyone is aware that FÁS provided a very valuable service and employed many competent individuals. I was a member of the Committee of Public Accounts. Therefore, I am very familiar with the investigations into FÁS and that only a small number of people sullied its good name.

I welcome the section of the Bill that addresses corporate governance and the provision for whistleblowers. People learn from their mistakes and we must ensure that controversy does not happen again.

I welcome the Minister's comments on literacy and numeracy. Both are extremely important but many people have slipped through the education system without gaining a competent knowledge of these skills. I, like other Senators, am a former member of the VEC. I found the experience invaluable. It made me aware of the services that were available and what ones were needed. While a member of the VEC I was also on an adult learning board. At the time the construction industry actively promoted literacy competence among its employees. It found that employees did not have a necessary competence in one area so tried to rectify the matter. I also was a board member of further education colleges which led me to value identifying the needs of individuals and providing the correct support. SOLAS will be learner centred and based on outcomes. SOLAS will give individuals clear direction and provide integrated and co-ordinated services. It also needs to provide proof that such things are happening.