Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Power for her kind comments. This is ground-breaking legislation that seeks to introduce significant reform in the way we provide further education and training in this country. It provides a structure and a delivery mechanism to ensure that every time a person seeks our support and assistance in accessing further education or training, the programmes provided will be of the highest standard and our intervention will be meaningful for the individual concerned. Our intention is to provide opportunities for every learner who wants to enter education for the first time or re-enter having exited the education system at some point in the past.

We often look to other countries for benchmarks and examples of how things should be done in education. Having worked in this role for the past two and a half years and after meeting numerous people involved in the delivery of further education and training in Ireland, whether they work in FÁS, the VECs or the private sector, I believe we provide excellent education and training opportunities. Rather than looking to others for examples, we can and will set the standard for the future. We are bringing together the collective expertise and wisdom of two sectors that have done excellent work in the past and I am convinced their roles will be greatly enhanced by the provisions of this Bill.

In regard to how the legislation developed over the past several months, both the Minister, Deputy Quinn, and I were anxious to engage in a strongly collaborative process rather than an adversarial one. The Minister and I agree that legislation as important as this Bill undergoes an evolutionary process while it is in draft form or travelling through the Houses of the Oireachtas. Any good idea on how we can improve legislation, irrespective of where it emanates, should be taken on board.

On Committee Stage we were careful to take on board good suggestions on how the Bill could be improved. This is how we should work in future when developing legislation. There should be a strongly collaborative process across all parties and none to ensure that the legislation we ultimately pass is the best it can be. This has been a very rewarding experience not only in working with my colleagues and officials in the Department, who have worked incredibly hard, but also in terms of engaging with spokespersons from other parties to hear their ideas for improving the Bill and those who work in the sector who offer valuable experience. To all of these individuals I offer my sincere thanks. At the end of the process we will have a job well done and a Bill of which we can be proud.