Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

It will be a reversal of fortunes; I have been 37 for so long, but there you go.

I call on the Leader to invite the new Minister for Education and Skills to the House to answer the Larkin Unemployed Centre, which is involved in community education in north inner-city Dublin. When one hears the word "community" in Ireland one thinks of devastation, as community projects, leaders, organisations and workers are being devastated by the Government.. Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, which has yet to prove itself, is asking community educational organisations to pay €5,000 for the process and privilege of its programmes. This is outrageous. It is contained in the new Bill. No community organisation involved in FETAC levels 5 to 10 should be asked to pay this as they do the State an enormous service. On his or her first outing, the new Minister for Education and Skills should come to the House to discuss this. I have yet to see the work of QQI, which has wonderful pages on what it will do and its aims and objectives, actually delivering. This is a very serious issue for all community projects and community education throughout the country. The organisations cannot afford to pay €5,000 to validate and organise what they already do. It is all right for big universities and technical colleges but it is not all right for community education where real education begins. More money should be pumped into it and organisations should not be asked to pay for the purpose of planning or validation.