Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As we are coming to the end of this term, it is fitting to wish all the very best to the people whom I am aware are not standing in the forthcoming election. They have been fantastic colleagues. I include Senators Walsh, Crown, Gilroy and Quinn. I acknowledge Senator Quinn's 23 years of service. He and the Cathaoirleach were elected on the same day in 1993. I congratulate both of them. It is ironic that the anniversary is the day the Dáil is to be dissolved. I also acknowledge Senator Norris, the father of the House.

We have done and achieved quite an amount here in our five years but, of course, there is always a lot more to be done. In this regard, I am thinking about education. A matter that arises quite frequently in my office concerns those who wish to go back to college and qualify for the back-to-education allowance but who miss out on it because they have not been on the jobseeker's payment or social welfare for the required period.A situation arises where somebody has to be on welfare for nine months and may be on it for eight months and two weeks. It is a ridiculous situation where they do not qualify and are not in a position to take up the offer of a college place. We need to instill flexibility within the system to help people who are on social welfare and who want to go back to work. It also applies to those in general who are in employment but want to go back to education. Maybe their employment is not remunerating them to the degree they should be remunerated and they are going back to education to better themselves. However, because they are in employment they do not qualify.

We need to instill flexibility within the guidelines and the qualifications and I also extend that to SUSI. To be fair to SUSI, three or four years ago we were all inundated with queries, complaints, difficulties and challenges concerning the SUSI application system but it is down to single figures now. There are always exceptional cases and when there are exceptional cases one needs exceptional flexibility and a commonsense approach.

For the next term I certainly want to see at Government level a far greater emphasis on education. There is a buoyancy out there now and I want to see any young person helped who has a desire, an ambition, intent and the ability to engage in education - be it university degrees or apprenticeships. I acknowledge the Labour Party and Tánaiste Joan Burton's speech, which I watched on Saturday night, and her commitment to creating thousands of apprenticeships if the party is re-elected to Government. In theory and in philosophy all parties across the political divide would sign up to that. It should be an all party agreement that we need to revolutionise and create far more apprenticeships.

I will conclude on the phenomenal growth in tourism that is taking place. There is an argument for the return of CERT. It was a fantastic way of training chefs and people within the hospitality industry. I cannot understand for the life of me why it was discontinued but we need to reignite CERT. It would bring back quality to the hospitality, catering and tourism industry.