John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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347. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of persons who availed of third-level courses subsidised under the Springboard initiative in 2011 and 2012. [47100/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Springboard programme strategically targets funding of free part-time flexible higher education courses for unemployed and previously self-employed people in areas where there are identified labour market skills shortages or employment opportunities.

4,956 people enrolled on programmes under the first round of Springboard in 2011 and 5,575 people enrolled on programmes under the second phase of the initiative in 2012. A full set of detailed data tables for Springboard 2011 and 2012 is available at .

An additional 6,000 places are currently being rolled out under Springboard 2013, which was launched in June 2013. Further information on the courses is available at the dedicated information and applications website www.springboardcourses.ie.