I move:
That a sum not exceeding £84,670,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December, 1986, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Minister for Education (including the National Library) for certain miscellaneous educational and cultural services and for payment of sundry grants-in-aid.
The five Votes for which I am responsible as Minister for Education continue to represent a very considerable proportion of Exchequer expenditure. Taken together, the amounts sought for 1986 for the Education group of Votes represent 16 per cent of the combined total of all votes. The following are some particulars of the overall figures.
The total gross provision for 1986 in the five year Votes together is £1,096.8 million, including £79.3 million as Appropriations-in-Aid. The comparable provisional outturn for 1985 is £1,035.4 million, including £61.3 million Appropriations-in-Aid. The amount being sought for 1986 represents an increase of £61.4 million or 6 per cent over the 1985 provisional outturn.
In addition to the provision sought in these five Votes, a sum of £24.1 million is being provided from the Vote for Labour — No. 41 — from youth employment levy funds, towards the cost of vocational preparation and training courses and middle level technician courses. The total overall amount being provided for the education services is thus £1,120.9 million, £57.5 million or 5 per cent more than the comparable 1985 figure of £1,063.4 million. Of the amounts provided for in the Education Votes, £100.547 million is for capital projects, an increase of £6.3 million or 7 per cent over 1985.
The gross non-capital provision is £996.2 million as against £941.1 million for 1985, an increase of £55.1 million. Of this, £792.5 million is for pay and pensions, an increase of £31.7 million or 4 per cent over the 1985 provisional outturn. Pay and pensions in 1986 will account for 79.6 per cent of the total current expenditure as against 80.8 per cent for 1985. However, the amount sought for 1986 does not include provision for any additional costs arising from increases in rates of remuneration under the proposed public service pay deal. The provision for non-pay non-capital expenditure is £203.7 million, £23.4 million or 13 per cent more than 1985.
In framing the estimates for the education services in 1986 the Government had to take account not only of the need to maintain the existing level of services but also of the need to cater for the continuing increase in the numbers of students. Despite a reduction in the birth rate in recent years the numbers of pupils at all levels of education are still increasing. The number of pupils at primary level is expected to peak in 1987-88. The increase will continue at second level and third level for many years to come, however, as the larger intakes at primary level work through the system. An additional 12,000 students must be provided for in the 1986-87 school year. This continual increase would place a strain on resources at the best of times, and it is a particular problem now when available resources are so limited and subject to so many demands.
Despite the limitations imposed by increasing numbers and available resources, some measures have been incorporated in the Estimates to channel resources into areas of greater need in line with the priorities established in the national plan Building on Reality and in the Programme for Action in Education, 1984-87. These include an increase in the rate of capitation grant payable in respect of pupils in national schools from £22 to £24 per pupil. Since 1982 the rate of grant has increased from £15 to £24, an increase of 60 per cent; an increase of £4 in the rate of grant payable to secondary schools within the free post-primary education scheme; an increase of £0.25 million in the fund for special assistance to primary schools in disadvantaged areas, bringing the total to £0.75 million; an additional 50 remedial teaching posts in primary schools and 55 remedial and guidance posts in post-primary schools; increasing the maintenance element of higher education student grants and income limits for eligibility for these grants in line with inflation; an increase of 6 per cent in the funding of in-service training of teachers; an additional £0.5 million for sport services; an additional £2 million for youth services.
I will now touch briefly on each of the individual Votes. The net provision sought for the Vote for the Office of the Minister for Education is £84.67 million. This Vote provides for the administrative costs of the Department of Education itself as well as for the National Library and miscellaneous educational services.
The capital costs of the building and equipping of national schools have for many years been provided for in the Vote for Primary Education while much of the work involved was carried out by the Office of Public Works. Responsibility for this work and the staff engaged on it were transferred to the Department of Education in 1985 and provision is included in this Vote in 1986 for the remuneration and other costs of the staff transferred. This transfer provides the opportunity to bring the entire educational building operation — for first, second and third level education — into an expanded building division within the Department of Education.
In addition, responsibility for certain aspects of youth policy has been transferred from the Minister for Labour to the Minister for Education. Provision is made for these services in subheads D11 and E7 and for the associated pay costs in subhead A1.
The increase in the Vote for the Office of the Minister, of £8.594 million over 1985 is mainly due to: an increase of £3.4 million in the cost of the higher education grants scheme; an increase of £1.3 million in the cost of the school transport services; an additional £2 million for youth services; a provision of £0.5 million for a public service sports and recreation complex.
Subhead A1 provides for the cost of salaries and allowances of the staff of the Department including the staff of the National Library and Genealogical Office. The continuing application of restrictions in the appointment of staff is reflected in the decreased number of posts being provided for namely, 1,057 posts in 1986 against 1,088 posts in 1985. Both these figures include the additional staff transferred to the Department from the Office of Public Works in respect of national school building work and from the Department of Labour in respect of youth services.
Additional money is being provided in subhead A3 for office machinery and other office supplies and in subhead A5 for consultancy services to enable the use of computer equipment in the day to day work of the Department to be extended.
Significant progress will be made this year in the area of computerisation within my Department. Developments are well under way for the installation of a computerised schools information system. The hardware and the software are being installed and there will then be a period during which information will be gathered on all schools and colleges.
The computerisation of the certificate examinations is continuing. The planning and design phases of the project have been completed and I hope to be in a position shortly to issue tender documents in respect of the hardware and software required to implement the project with a view to having some of the major examination processes computerised for the 1987 examinations.
A sum of £17 million is provided in subhead C1 for higher education grants to students. This provision is for the recoupment to local authorities of the grants paid by them in 1985 under the Local Authorities (Higher Education Grants) Acts, 1968 and 1978. It is expected that over 10,800 students will be in receipt of these grants during the academic year 1985-86, more than double the number of grant holders in 1980-81. The cost of the grants has increased accordingly from £3.4 million in 1981 to £17 million in 1986, an increase of 400 per cent. As promised in the national plan, the provisions of the scheme were updated in 1985 as follows: the income eligibility limits were increased by 11 per cent; the maintenance element was increased by 16 per cent; a tapering mechanism of eligibility limits was introduced so as to provide for the partial payment of fees.
The income eligibility limits and the maintenance element of the grants will be increased in line with inflation in 1986 also. I might mention here that this scheme of grants does not include all the grant aid available to third level students. Separate provision is made for other schemes for students as follows: university scholarships, research grants and fellowship in subhead C2 of the Vote for the Office of the Minister for Education; grants to students at Thomond College of Education in subhead D6 of the Vote for the Office of the Minister for Education; grants and loans to students at Colleges of Education for national teachers in subhead A2 of the Vote for Primary Education; grants to students in training colleges for teachers of home economics in subhead E of the Vote for Post-Primary Education; VEC third-level scholarships and ESF grants to students on middle-level technician and similar courses in subhead A2 of the Vote for Post-Primary Education.
The area of student support is one in which Coalition Governments have a good record. For example, the estimated provision for the higher education grants scheme in 1985-86 is £17 million as compared to less than £4 million before the introduction, by a Coalition Government, in 1981-82 of major improvements in the scheme. In 1980-81 the year before the much improved scheme of higher education grants was introduced there was a total of about 11,500 students or just over 27 per cent of the student body in receipt of a grant or a scholarship. For the academic year 1984-85 just 24,000 third-level students or 46 per cent got their fees paid and the majority of these also received maintenance allowances under either the higher education grants scheme, VEC scholarships or grants from the European Social Fund. This latter source of funding has been of tremendous benefit in the regional technical colleges where in the last academic year 12,300 students benefited by way of fee and maintenance grants compared to 4,800 in 1980-81.
The school transport service will cost over £36 million in 1986. Approximately £3.4 million will be paid by way of charges and the net cost to the Department will be £32.963 million. The number of eligible children using the service in November 1985 was 155,000, of whom 86,000 were post-primary pupils. About 39,000 of these were exempt from paying the charges under the medical card concession. The number of eligible primary pupils who were carried free was 69,000. At present, about 13,000 pupils avail themselves of concessionary fare paying transport on special school buses, over 12,000 of them primary pupils. The rate of charge payable was increased from January 1986 by amounts which were of the order of 5 per cent and this increase was intended to reflect inflation.
It will be necessary to raise the rates again from September 1986. My Department are very conscious both of the importance of this transport scheme and of the need to achieve the greatest possible efficiency and cost effectiveness in order to arrest the continually increasing cost. An examination has been carried out by an inter-departmental group reporting to a sub-committee of the Cabinet responsible for reviewing schemes and programmes and their report is being considered.
A sum of £225,000 is being provided in subhead D10 for the general expenses of the Curriculum and Examinations Board. The interim board presented their report In Our Schools: A framework for Curriculum and Assessment to me on 25 March 1986. The report gives an account of the board's activities to date, sets out board policy and makes recommendations regarding curriculum and assessments for primary schools and for junior and senior cycles of post-primary schools. In particular, the board recommend the replacement of the existing intermediate and group certificate examinations by a new examination to be called the certificate of general education. The report also recommends that a major review of the primary school curriculum should be initiated. I am having this important report considered by my Department at present and I shall respond to it as soon as possible. Draft legislation to establish the board on a statutory basis is at an advanced stage. Course committees are being put in place by the board at present with the objective of reviewing and updating the various courses taught in our schools.
The need for curriculum reform is now widely recognised. At a time of great change in society, particularly in patterns of both work and leisure activities, it is necessary to ensure that school courses maintain their relevance. It is also necessary to keep courses up-to-date in terms of new knowledge, especially in the rapidly expanding areas of science and technology.
One curricular area of particular concern to me is that of modern languages. I am very pleased that oral examinations in modern continental languages have been introduced for the first time into the leaving certificate examination this year. This completes the process of revision which has been taking place in recent years, with new syllabuses introduced and both listening comprehension and oral tests now featuring as complementary elements to written examinations. There is a major emphasis on language as communication, rather than just as an academic/literary study.
If we are to play our part as Europeans and if our young people are to be able to derive the benefits which our EC membership offers, then the development of language skills will prove most important. Our young people must be equipped to make their contribution to Europe, which in every other way our educational system qualifies them to do. It will be increasingly important for Ireland's future that language barriers and the inability to communicate with our European colleagues should not hamper our capacity to reap new opportunities, whether it be in terms of gaining employment or in winning new markets for Irish goods. We have a large number of highly educated young people, at a time when many of our European partners are experiencing a decline in such numbers. This must bring new opportunities which we can only grasp fully if we give emphasis now to the best possible training in language skills.
A sum of £1.313 million is included in subhead D11 for capital grants to voluntary youth, sport and community bodies to assist and encourage local initiatives towards the construction of recreational, leisure and community facilities, a service which has been included in the Labour Vote since 1983 and £880,000 of this amount ensures that the specific developments for which grants have been approved previously may proceed this year. A further £113,000 is to meet commitments expected to arise this year in respect of five projects in the Bantry area identified as part of the West Cork Development Package.
There is a substantial increase in the amount being provided in subhead E5 as a grant-in-aid fund for the general expenses of sports organisations and miscellaneous sports activities. This service was introduced in 1970. Since then, it has been expanded and now includes, since 1979, the funding of activities designed to promote and develop sport through Cospóir, the National Sports Council.
Sport will be one of the main beneficiaries of the national lottery which is to be established. In anticipation of this funding, a committee has been set up to examine the requirements of a national sports centre.
The 5th Conference of European Sports Ministers will be held in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin, from 29 September to 2 October 1986. The conference is being hosted by Ireland under the aegis of the Council of Europe. It will be attended by Sports Ministers from 24 European countries and the Canadian Minister who will be attending as an observer. In addition top level representatives will be in attendance from the Council of Europe, the European Commission, UNESCO and international Sports Organisations including the International Olympic Committee.
As already mentioned, responsibility for certain aspects of youth services has been transferred to the Department of Education from the Department of Labour. These services will be administered nationally by a new community education and training division in the Department of Education. A sum of £5 million is provided in subhead E7 for these services in 1986. In December 1985 the Government published their national youth policy In partnership with Youth. This fulfilled the commitment, entered into by the present Government on taking up office, that they would produce a comprehensive youth policy which would seek to meet the real needs of our nation's youth. It was published following examination of the report of the National Youth Policy Committee which was chaired by Mr. Justice Declan Costello.
The national youth policy is a comprehensive statement of the Government's intentions in relation to the development of our young people. It centres around the creation of a national youth service which will be a distinct and independent service based on existing provision by youth and other voluntary organisations and with effective links to other established services for youth. Its purpose will be the social and political education of young people in a society which is undergoing accelerating and sometimes dramatic changes. The policy recognises the primary task of the national youth service as offering young people, on the basis of their voluntary involvement, developmental and educational experiences which will equip them to play an active part in our democratic society.
The net provision sought for the Vote for Primary Education is £379.71 million, an increase of £5.381 million. Pay and pensions account for £333 million of this total of 3 per cent more than the 1985 expenditure. Capital building, equipping and furnishing costs of national schools, at £28.234 million, account for the bulk of the balance.
Subhead A1 contains provision for the grants paid towards the cost of the colleges of education which provide the initial training of national teachers. The lower birth rate of recent years and the projections of pupil numbers for the years to come allied to the relatively low wastage from the ranks of primary teachers has made it necessary to face up to the problems posed by overcapacity in our training colleges. It was for this reason that the Government made an announcement in February 1986 in regard to the phasing out of teacher taining at Our Lady of Mercy College, Carysfort. I look forward to a continued and distinguished contribution to Irish education from this college in whatever new role may emerge from the deliberations of the informal committee which I have constituted to examine the question. The committee's work is proceeding and, while not operating to a particular time schedule, the members are aware that all interested parties, not least myself, are anxious for an early report.
The number of national teachers continues to increase and currently stands at over 21,100 in 3,395 national schools. It is expected that about 250 additional teaching posts will be created in 1986, 200 to cater for growth in enrolment and 50 remedial teaching posts. In addition, £4.8 million is being provided in respect of the cost of substitute teachers employed during illness and maternity leave.
A separate provision is being made in 1986 subhead C3 for the programme of special assistance for schools in disadvantaged areas and the amount available is being increased from £0.5 million to £0.75 million. This programme was initiated in 1984 when 34 schools catering for approximately 10,000 pupils were assisted. In 1985, as well as providing additional assistance to continue the initiatives taken in 1984, a further 57 schools catering for 20,000 pupils were selected to participate. The measures from which the schools have benefited include the following: special grants for books and equipment; the sponsorship of homeschool/community liaison schemes in co-operation with boards of management the organisation of special in-service training for the teachers involved.
In addition, funds have been provided under this programme for the relief of school debts and for pre-school facilities for travellers' children. The increased provision for 1986 will enable the programme to be expanded further as well as continuing the support for schools participating during 1984 and 1985.
The provision in subhead C4 for grants for equipment for special education is being continued. A total of 1,041 schools benefit from the provision of remedial teaching posts. Each remedial teaching scheme gets an initial grant of £229 for equipment, with a further £125 and £120 approximately in the second and third years. The remedial scheme is being extended annually by about 30 posts. Grants are also made from this provision for equipment in schools for the visually impaired and the hearing impaired and for practical activities — woodwork, arts, crafts etc. — in special schools and in vocational training centres. These grants are complemented in the case of schools in disadvantaged areas by grants from the fund for special assistance for schools in disadvantaged areas.
Grants will continue to be available from the provision in subhead C3 towards the travelling and subsistence expenses of visiting teachers of the deaf, hearing impaired, blind and visually impaired, and travellers' children, much of whose work involves visiting childrens' homes.
National school teacher superannuation will cost over £44 million in 1986. Lump sums and other gratuities and initial pension awards are based on salary levels at retirement but pensions are revised periodically to give pensioners the benefit of increases in the remuneration of serving teachers. While the number of pensioners to be provided for in 1986 is lower than the 1985 figure — 4,691 as against 4,736 — the cost will increase by almost £2 million. Provision is also made for payment of pensions to spouses and children of former teachers. The current superannuation scheme for national teachers was established in 1934. Prior to that, pensions were payable under the National School Teachers (Ireland) Act, 1879, and these pensions continued to be paid to those who qualified for them prior to the establishment of the current scheme. In 1986, for the first time, it is no longer necessary to make provision for payment of pension to teachers who retired before 1934.
Over £28 million is being provided as part of the public capital programme for the building, equipping and furnishing of national schools. The national school capital building programme provides for the building of new schools in developing areas, the replacement of obsolete buildings and the extension of school buildings. About 13,750 pupil places will be provided in 1986. There will be approximately 130 major projects in progress at any one time and throughout the year about 170 major projects will have been grant-aided. Some of the new places will enable temporary accommodation to be phased out or will replace old conventionally built accommodation which is unsuitable and does not meet modern standards.
On the vote for post-primary education the net estimate for 1986 is £440.629 million, an increase of £26.51 million or 6 per cent over 1985. This Vote provides in the main for the current and capital costs of second level schools, and colleges administered by vocational education committees.
£177.589 million is being provided for salary and allowances of secondary teachers. This includes £2.75 million to meet the cost of authorised substitution and of certain part-time teachers. There are just over 12,000 secondary teachers in receipt of incremental salary.
£121.3 million is being provided as grants to vocational education committees in subhead A2. These grants cover, in addition to pay costs and general running expenses, such expenses as the cost of servicing capital loans, third-level scholarships awarded by VECs, and grants to students on ESF-aided courses. In addition to the amount provided in this subhead, £20 million of the £24.16 million which will be available from the Vote 41 for Labour will be applied to vocational training courses run by VECs.
The Government have decided, in the context of the 1986 Estimates, that the payment of capitation grants to fee-paying secondary schools will not be made for the 1986-87 school year. A sum of £410,000 is included in subhead C1 for this service in respect of grants due to the end of July.
In the case of secondary schools within the free education scheme, the rate of per capita grant has been increased by £4 per pupil to £140 with effect from 1 January, 1986.
£38 million is being provided for capital expenditure on construction, furniture, equipment and professional fees in the case of secondary, vocational and community/comprehensive schools and for sites other than for secondary schools. The investment in post-primary building represents a sustained commitment, despite the economic climate, to a programme designed to meet with growth in enrolments arising through population growth as well as population shifts, to replace unsatisfactory accommodation and to meet the backlog of places for which short term arrangements were made mainly in the form of temporary prefabricated accommodation. About 9,000 pupil places were provided in 1985 and a further 8,500 to 9,000 will be provided in 1986. Altogether about 140,000 permanent places have been provided in the period 1966 to 1985 against a growth in enrolments in excess of 192,000.
Subhead G of this Vote also provides for the capital costs of regional technical colleges, colleges of technology, and colleges for the training of teachers of home economics. As part of the Government's programme for the expansion of the number of places available for third level students, provision is made for developments at the Dublin colleges of technology, and new regional colleges in the Dublin area and at Castlebar and Thurles.
Contributions from the European Social Fund are expected to amount to £44.5 million in 1986. These contributions are appropriated in aid of the Vote as shown in Subhead L, subsection 5. It is not surprising in current difficult employment circumstances that questions should be addressed to education such as: could more young people secure employment if they had been more adequately prepared, or, would better preparation in itself lead to more jobs? Undoubtedly many young people had fallen behind in the pursuit of equality and undoubtedly, too, the leaving certificate, with the inevitable academic emphasis as an avenue to third level, was not the ideal framework for those whose immediate target was a job.
In 1977, the Department, with ESF assistance, introduced the pre-employment programme of one year duration into vocational, community and comprehensive schools. It sought to address the frequent criticism with regard to basics, practical skills and attitudes, particularly attitudes towards work and standards of work. For motivation it relied on activity, or learning through doing, and it dispensed with the usual type of reward through certification. Rewards for those with appropriate competence and attitudes would be a job or a start in life. For eight years this programme proved quite successful, but admittedly for a relatively small number of 4,000 by 1984.
In 1984, again with ESF assistance, the Department revamped and expanded the programme under the title vocational training and preparation and extended it to all categories of second-level school, for young people in the age range of 15-18 years and with allowances for participants. The uptake increased remarkably, rising as it did to 16,000 approximately. In the next session the enrolment is likely to rise to 25,000 and in the longer term may well rise to 27,000. The Department are committed to supporting this programme so long as ESF aid continues.
The Department have introduced a second year of the programme at centres that are appropriately staffed and equipped. It is intended that certification will be provided at the end of the second year to facilitate an upward progression in the general area of training and education.
It is now required that young people on vocational training and preparation programmes be registered with the National Manpower Service. Responsibility for those between 15 and 18 years who have clearly left the educational system rests with the manpower authorities, namely the Youth Employment Agency, An Comhairle Oiliúna and the National Manpower Service in close co-operation with the education authorities. The Government have been anxious to clarify the roles of the various agencies involved in vocational education and training and recently adopted a series of decisions on the question of co-ordination of education, training and manpower services. These decisions approved the setting up of two groups to ease the problems of transition from school to work, namely:
(i)a Social Guarantee Advisory Board to involve both educational and manpower interests to oversee the implementation in the Irish context of the Social Guarantee.
(ii)a high-level liaison committee set up under the chairmanship of the Minister of State at the Departments of Education and Labour to improve communication between the education and training systems.
In talking about utilisation of resources one has to be conscious of the role of the European Social Fund in the development of training in this country. Since 1977 the level of aid from the Social Fund committed to programmes operated by the Department of Education has increased from £2 million to £54 million in 1985. Given the difficult budgetary problems facing the EC, particularly in the context of enlargement, it is clear that the favourable percentage of the ESF devoted to Ireland — 12.75 per cent in 1985 — is unlikely to be maintained. Any significant reduction in this level of aid would have major implications for the continuance of the vocational preparation and training programme and other training programmes operated by the Department of Education.
The net estimate for the Vote for Special Schools for 1986 is £4.159 million, an increase of £0.793 million or 24 per cent over 1985. This Vote provides for the operating of capital costs of special schools for children in care. These include: Finglas children's centre, St. Joseph's special school, Clonmel, Cuan Mhuire, Whitehall, and Trinity House Lusk. The provision for operating costs in subhead A is less than the 1985 expenditure due to the closure of Scoil Ard-Mhuire, Lusk, as a result of falling enrolments and the increasing trend towards dealing with the problems of these young people in community-based projects. The substantial capital provision in subhead C is intended, in the main, for modernising and refurbishing the special school in Clonmel.
The amount being sought for the Vote for Higher Education is £108.289 million. £2.098 million or 2 per cent more than the 1985 outturn. This is mainly for the current and capital costs of third level institutions funded through the Higher Education Authority. The provision in the Vote does not represent, however, the full resources available to these institutions as it does not include fee income. Neither does this Vote represent the cost of the full range of higher education as the provision for the third level courses conducted in RTCs, colleges of technology and colleges of home economics is included in the Vote for Post Primary Education while the primary teacher training colleges are provided for in the vote for Primary Education.
The Government in their plan Building on Reality have committed themselves to providing third level education for as many young people as possible. This commitment derives from recognition by the Government of the value to this country of a well educated and highly skilled population. The skills which our young people possess have paid off, and will continue to pay off, in terms of attracting the establishment of high technology industry here.
Total student enrolment in third level in 1973-74 was 28,500. In the current academic year the figure is in excess of 53,000, an increase of 86 per cent in the 12 year period. The number of third level students will continue to increase and will be in the order of 66,000 by 1990-91 and 70,000 by 1995-96. In line with Government policy to provide additional and improved accommodation at third level a major programme of capital investment was announced during 1985 at a total estimated cost of £126.5 million.
The new student places being provided will, however, fall significantly below those required for projected student enrolment in 1991-92. To cater for the greatly increased number of students the third level sector must become more cost effective and productivity must be improved. Significant extra productivity has been achieved from third level institutions in recent years but we must not rest content if we are to meet successfully the challenge which faces us. Ways must be found by which the higher education sector can become more productive since public spending cannot increase incrementally with increased student numbers.
Some ways by which additional productivity may be achieved were mentioned in the Programme for Action in Education such as the provision of evening degree courses and the rationalisation of existing courses. These matters will be dealt with more fully in a discussion document on catering for the demand for third level education which it is hoped to publish in the near future. It will be a matter then for all those involved in higher education to come together to consider how best the needs of our young people can be met by the institutions in the most economical way.
Our third level educational institutions have a major role to play in making our young people more innovative. They must be encouraged to look beyond the traditional and to exercise entrepreneurial initiative for themselves. Skilled graduates can start businesses involving new products and processes particularly in the developing areas of information technology, food and biotechnology and microelectronics. These areas have a potential for rapid growth and development which can generate employment. Enterprise education will have to become a more prominent feature in the curricula of our higher education institutions so that our young people can be helped to develop new attitudes which will encourage them and equip them with the skills necessary to meet the challenge of creating employment in today's society.
There is already, to their mutual benefit, considerable co-operation between industry and third level institutions and I am anxious that this would continue and expand. Deputies will be interested to learn that a programme for such co-operation on a European scale, entitled COMETT, was formally adopted and allocated a budget at a meeting earlier this week of Ministers for Education. Because of the considerable advances made in this area nationally, each of our university colleges and NIHEs has an industry-linked programme or programmes. I am confident that our colleges and institutes and industry will be able to contribute significantly to this new European development. It is particularly pleasing to record that the initiative to the COMETT programme came from my predecessor, Deputy Gemma Hussey, when she held the presidency and the rapid implementation owes much to the work of Commissioner Sutherland when his portfolio included educational affairs.
Deputies will be also interested to know that at the same council meeting the Erasmus programme was significantly advanced in that the Commission was instructed to prepare for presentation to the December council a scheme for the organisation and implementation of Erasmus. Some of us were disappointed that Erasmus was not formally adopted. Perhaps I should say that this programme envisages student mobility across Europe and reciprocal recognition of course years and course modules and when in place will be of great significance in intergrating university level education throughout the Community achieving the practical aim of enabling large numbers of students to study in other parts of their Continent.
The period since this Government took office has seen many developments and initiatives in the field of education. Indeed, some of the decisions already taken and the initiatives set in train will set the pattern for the education system into the next century. As a member of the Government I was fully appreciative of the work being done by my predecessor, Deputy Gemma Hussey. It is only since becoming Minister for Education, however, that the full complexity of our education system today, of the problems with which it is faced and of the issues which need to be tackled, have come home to me. I look forward, with the help of my colleagues Deputy Enda Kenny and Deputy Seán Barrett as Ministers of State, and in consultation with all the other interests involved in education, to building on the achievements of the past three years.
The coming school year will see the introduction of the first of the new programmes arising from the Government decisions about the ages for learning. Approval has been granted for transition year programmes submitted by 95 schools. It is hoped that the other schools who applied will develop their programmes further and apply again for later years. It was always made clear that the introduction of these programmes would be on a phased basis, subject to monitoring by my Department. Priority has been given this year to those schools who already had transition year programmes or who had practical experience of curriculum development. In some of the cases turned down for 1986 it has been felt that the programmes would benefit from more careful preparation and development before they could be introduced. In others, schools applied for both the transition year and the vocational preparation — training programme. Some schools were ineligible as they have had a four year junior cycle to date and would be offering a seven year programme if they were to introduce the transition year at this stage.
It is not anticipated that additional costs will arise this year because of the introduction of transition years. The pupils in question would otherwise have been enrolling in the leaving certificate cycle and thus do not count as additional to the overall stock of pupils in second level schools. Additional costs with respect to such pupils will not arise until they reach their third year in the senior cycle, that is, in September 1988.
We have made an important start in putting adult education onto a firm foundation. While much has been achieved over the years by vocational education committees in particular, more recently by community and comprehensive schools, and with major input from voluntary bodies its development suffered from a lack of overall national policy and commitment.
The report of the Adult Education Commission entitled Lifelong Learning was received by my predecessor in May 1984. In response to one of the major recommendations of the Commission, adult education boards have now been established on an ad hoc basis throughout the country under the aegis of vocational education committees. The national plan Building on Reality committed up to £1 million for adult education by 1987 directed primarily towards the provision of courses to overcome illiteracy and towards the development of community education. The amount allocated for 1986 is £350,000. Since 1984 a grant has been paid each year to the National Adult Literacy Agency and this stands at £41,500 in 1986.
I am pleased that very recently my Department have issued discussion papers on the subjects of adult literacy and community education. I am confident that these will stimulate debate and help us to set goals and priorities for future work in these areas. I was also pleased to learn that AONTAS, the National Association for Adult Education, is bringing out a report on priority areas in adult education.
We have, even now, a formidable array of resources available and ready to be tapped in the many schools and colleges throughout the country whose staffs are becoming increasingly aware of needs and opportunities. Already the universities and the NCEA are moving into the field of formal qualification. New means, including distance education, are becoming increasingly available for those who care to use them.
The provision of funds for education would serve no purpose without the service of teachers in the schools. Happily the recent teachers' pay dispute, which if continued would have seriously disrupted the education services at primary and post primary levels, has been resolved on the acceptance by the teacher unions of proposals put to them on 9 May 1986 by the Government, following negotiation with representatives of the unions.
I want to place on record my appreciation of the constructive attitude adopted by the representatives of the teacher unions in the course of the negotiation of the settlement proposals and I look forward to working in harmony with the teachers in the interests of the education, and preparation for working life, of all our young people.
The Green Paper Partners in Education: Serving Community Needs was published last November with the intention that it would generate considered discussion and debate on the issues raised in it. While the Green Paper was published by my predecessor, it is a Government document and was issued following lengthy consideration at Government level. Following a series of preliminary meetings with the major interest groups to explain and clarify the Green Paper before Christmas last, written submissions were invited from all interested parties or individuals.
A large number of submissions have been received — many more than we had anticipated. Indeed, submissions are still coming in. I have been very impressed by the deep interest clearly shown by so many in regard to educational matters and the time and commitment they have given to considering the issues raised in the Green Paper. We have had quite a varied response — from major objection on the one hand to general acceptance on the other. Detailed discussions with the major groups in regard to their submissions are now almost complete. I will be considering the outcome in depth with a view to deciding on the next steps to be taken.
Education is one of the most complex areas of Government responsibility. There must be few people in Ireland who are not touched in one way or another, either directly or indirectly, by what happens within the very wide range of educational activities. I am conscious of the responsibility this places on me as Minister. Time could not allow me to do more than to comment selectively today on some of the issues that are current. An overview of the Government's intentions with regard to education can be seen in the Programme for Action 1984-1987. The most recent progress report on the implementation of this programme was published shortly after I assumed office as Minister in this area. We will proceed to complete the programme as outlined. In all our activities we work together with the various interest groups, in particular with teachers, managers, and parents. Already the Parents' Council, to whom we have made a special grant this year of £50,000, have been establishing themselves as one of the key groups to be consulted on issues that arise.
We have a healthy education system. Within the restricted resources available to us we are managing to maintain the high standards for which Irish education is well known. This is being achieved, and will continue to be achieved because of the enormous commitment and dedication of so many people. I commend the Estimates to the House.
