Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 27 Mar 1990

Vol. 397 No. 5

Written Answers. - Functions of Department.

Brian O'Shea

Question:

33 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Labour if he will outline the ways and the extent to which the functions of his Department overlap with those of the Department of Education; if he considers the situation satisfactory; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Labour (Mr. B. Ahern)

My Department and the Department of Education are jointly involved in the development of our human resources and, to this end, mount a number of training initiatives, either individually or jointly.

Joint initiatives include apprenticeship training, hotel catering and tourism industry training, Youthreach and the community and young traveller training workshops for early school leavers. In addition, both Departments are involved in initiatives sponsored by the European Community, including Eurotechnet, Petra, young worker exchange and the youth for Europe programmes. There is also close contact between the schools guidance service of the Department of Education and FÁS. The provision recently of a new series of career leaflets resulted from this co-operation.

The Department of Education are also represented on the Councils of CERT and FÁS.

Both myself and the Minister for Education appreciate the importance of close co-operation between both our Departments and their agencies to improve education and training provision for young people who have completed compulsory schooling and for adults. We, accordingly, established an education and training joint planning committee representative of the two Departments and their appropriate agencies to futher such provision in co-operation with each other.

The committee meet on a regular basis and will also help to overcome any unnecessary overlap that might otherwise arise.