Jim D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaorligh. Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an Aire go dtí an Teach. Tá obair mhór déanta aige ar an mBille seo.

The first part of the Bill, as the Minister said, gives authorisation to describe an educational provider as a university outside the State in limited circumstances. I note that the provision will only apply to providers that have 40% of their student body enrolled in Ireland who are non-EU citizens. As he also said, it is one of the aims of the programme for Government to set out an ambition to "encourage more international students to study here and to create new jobs in the sector". The provision will also help to fund third level education and keep costs down for local students. The high regard in which Irish third level institutions are held abroad, in places like China, India and the Middle East, is very obvious in the numbers attending these institutions. We must do all we can to assist in this regard while ensuring that perhaps less competent providers do not jump on the bandwagon. The 40% benchmark will assist greatly in this regard while helping providers, such as the Royal College of Surgeons, to continue with its excellent provision and aid its capacity to attract non-EU students.

The second main part of the Bill amends section 7 of the Student Support Act 2011 and deals with the provision of grants to second school students participating in further education. It allows for the fact that SOLAS is now the administrative agency for post-leaving certificate courses. It is very necessary for students to get their grants.

I would like to talk here about the Education and Training Boards Bill and the Further Education and Training Bill. They are two of the most important Bills to go through the Oireachtas in this Dáil term. We need top class PLC education courses for the many careers, trades and apprenticeships which are and will be in demand. The young people educated and trained in this way are the nuts and bolts of society. In a great many cases they will employ the degree holders of the future if not moving forward to tertiary education themselves.

Last week, I attended a debate at the Council of Europe on improving the status of vocational education and training, VET, courses in Europe. It is a big issue throughout Europe and it is considered absolutely necessary. This is a very crucial area of education. These training centres must not be FÁS by another name. They should be monitored to ensure that they are being reformed in line with what is envisaged in the Bill. Will the Minister comment on the fact that five education and training boards have no discrete training centre? Is there any indication that this might be causing problems even at this early stage of the development of the new training centres?

The third aspect of this Bill involves an amendment of section 53 of the Education Act 1998 to prevent school league tables in ETB institutions. I welcome this while acknowledging that parents should have sufficient information to be able to make an informed choice of schools. The blunt instrument of league tables is invidious and pernicious. A former British Minister for Education, Sir Rhodes Boyson, said that one judges schools by the amount of graffiti on the walls, the amount of litter in the schoolyard and the number of children who are awake when the teacher is teaching. As a teacher, I can sympathise with that.