David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Minister of State back to the house. He is taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of the Minister for Education and Skills. He will be aware of the cuts announced in the last budget in regard to teaching posts for colleges of further education. For the information of the Minister of State and to do justice to the people who sent me correspondence, I want to read into the record details of it. The first is a letter I received from Helen Finlay, the VTOS co-ordinator for the college of further education. She said that the college is facing a significant loss of teachers which will result in the removal of courses developed and provided in response to the needs of the community. She also said that the reduction of between 100 and 200 places on courses will mean the decimation of a service relied on by thousands of people in the south east, a region which already suffers from chronic unemployment and the loss of major employers over the last number of years.

I also received correspondence from the acting principal of the college, which states that the cuts to further education, as per 2012 December budget, will affect the 4.6 teacher allocation cut to the college, with the resulting loss of up to 120 college places to the region. Does that not make a mockery of what the Government is trying to do in terms of its jobs action plan and what the Ministers for Social Protection and Education and Skills are trying to do, in a co-ordinated way, to ensure we have proper labour activation measures, upskilling and retraining and the provision of opportunities for people to get back into the marketplace and workforce and receive the education they may need to be able to take advantage of the kinds of jobs the Government says it wants to create in terms of its jobs action plan? It is interesting that the areas and courses that will be affected most if these cuts go ahead are in the areas of tourism, business, child care, IT and beauty therapy.

If we take any one of those on its own, we can say the State has made significant tourism investment in Waterford in recent times. The Minister of State will be aware of the huge investment in the Viking Quarter in Waterford city. All that was welcomed. When courses are being provided to people to allow them to take these opportunities and for us to exploit the potential of the investment being made, it does not makes sense to cut back on these courses.

Why were these cuts announced and what is the logic behind them? How do they make sense in a region where unemployment is 25% above the national average? At a meeting with Oireachtas Members last week, the Waterford city manager confirmed that unemployment in Waterford city is over 20%. It is scary to think that is the unemployment figure in a city the size of Waterford. Why, then, are cuts like this being made to a college of further education that provides a service, not only to the people of Waterford but to the entire south east?

I am genuinely interested in the logic and rationale behind that decision and how the Minister of State and the Government feel it sits with the overall jobs action plan and the attempts the Minister of State says the Government is making to provide labour activation measures and opportunities for people to get back into the workforce.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I begin by acknowledging the hard work and dedication of the staff of Waterford VEC and of VECs across the country in delivering further education courses, including PLC courses, to learners. While this measure affects PLC provision, a range of further education and training courses are available across the sector. While it would have been preferable to avoid any changes, by bringing the PLC pupil teacher ratio, which is the cut referred to by the Senator, into line with that in free second level schools, my Department has succeeded in protecting the class sizes in primary and free second level schools for the coming year, ensuring that our limited resources are rightly focused on the children in our education system.

As Senator Cullinane is aware, PLC courses are designed for school leavers and adults returning to education to enable people to gain specific vocational skills which enhance their prospects of employment, as well as providing a route to progress to higher education. There are 32,688 approved PLC places available nationally and this will be maintained into the next academic year. By maintaining the number of approved places, my Department has sought to mitigate the impact of the change.

The majority of PLC courses are provided by VECs, with the remainder delivered in community and comprehensive and voluntary secondary schools. My Department allocates PLC places to VECs and other schools and approves courses for delivery annually. The VECs then allocate places to schools and colleges under their remit. The reduction in the pupil teacher ratio will reduce the number of PLC teaching posts by 200 and may lead to some reduction in subject choices for learners.

In 2012, my Department provided ¤160 million in funding for PLC courses. This covers staff costs and non-pay costs as well as student support. This investment enabled a total of 36,500 people to participate in PLC courses. PLC is free for unemployed people and those on low incomes, and two thirds of PLC participants are availing of this currently. There is a ¤200 participant contribution for other participants.

This measure is expected to generate some ¤12 million in estimated savings in a full year and ¤4 million in 2013. To amend this measure would mean introducing additional budget measures in education which would impact on other front-line services.

The City of Waterford VEC has approval for 790 PLC places for its two PLC centres, with 863 participants currently enrolled, the majority of whom are in Waterford College of Further Education. It is estimated that this budget measure will result in a reduction in their teacher allocation of four posts.

The further education sector has expanded over the past few decades, developing many innovative programmes for its learners, and investment in further education has been maintained at consistent levels in recent years. It is now up to CEOs of the VECs along with their school principals to look at the resources available to them and to work to ensure they can continue to deliver programmes which closely meet the needs of both learners and employers.

David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply and acknowledge the fact that he has conceded that four teaching posts will be lost. The figure is actually 4.6. That will have a significant impact on the ability of the college to provide its courses.

The Minister of State spoke about savings of ¤12 million in a full year and ¤4 million in 2013, which is not a huge amount of money in the general budget. It is disingenuous to say that to amend this decision would mean introducing additional budget measures in education. The Government has, of course, the ability to raise taxes on higher earners or to achieve savings elsewhere in the payroll. I could give the Minister of State any number of examples.

Given the small level of savings being made, it is neither economically sound nor right to achieve savings in this way. It will have the opposite effect of pushing people out of college. Whole classes will have to go because of this measure. It is not the right way to do things.

Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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I compliment the Minister of State on his use of modern technology. This may be the first time an iPad was used to deliver a speech on the Adjournment. In time, Ministers' speeches will go directly into the library and to the Editor of Debates. Do you wish to respond to Senator Cullinane, Deputy?

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I know how passionately Senator Cullinane feels about this subject. The seriousness of this issue surrounds the difficult budgetary constraints in which we find ourselves. The Minister, Deputy Quinn, and I, with our colleagues in the Department of Education and Skills, had challenging and stark decisions to make in the run-up to the budget. We needed to protect those on the front line, the young children in primary and post-primary schools, for whom we hope to provide the best possible opportunity and the best quality of education with the best possible pupil teacher ratio. Making those stark decisions obliged us to look at this option. The decision was not taken lightly.

I have every confidence in the management of the VEC structure across the country to be as innovative as possible in responding to the challenge of delivering services with the reduced pupil teacher ratio. I agree with the Senator that it is a challenge. I am confident they will be able to do that and will continue to provide the kind of courses to which the Senator refers which will empower the unemployed to get back to work as soon as possible and will provide them with the skills to do so.