Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 114: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the reason he refused to provide funding to the OCED for its study entitled Internal Assessment of Adult Competencies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25347/07]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is a project of the OECD together with a number of member countries for the development of a new generation of household-based surveys of adult skills in selected domains of measurable ability.

Ireland declined to be involved in the OECD's PIAAC due to a number of concerns. These included the high cost of participation, reservations concerning the proposed methodology, the unclear gains in terms of additional knowledge that participation in the programme would provide, the lack of participation by virtually all EU Member States, resulting in limitations in terms of comparability at EU level and concerns regarding value for money of participating in the PIAAC.

This decision reflected advice from within my own Department, Forfás and FÁS.