I propose to share my time with Senator Mooney. I thank you, Sir, for allowing me to raise this matter and I welcome the Minister of State to the House.
I raise this matter to clarify the role of vocational education committees in the future of adult education and learning in the light of recent press statements relating to proposed drafts of the White Paper and in the context of the new national wage agreement. The VEC adult education boards have been established since 1984. The composition of these boards reflects the statutory and voluntary sector. The boards include two nominees from the VEC, one from Teagasc, one from FÁS and one from the local statutory library authority. A further seven come from voluntary organisations, trade unions, employers and other educational institutions. Each board's function is to establish adult education provisions for the administrative area of its VEC.
Unfortunately, while the Kenny commission of 1984 proposed that these boards be set up on a statutory basis, the Department of Education, in its circular letter, suggested that they be set up on an ad hoc basis as section 21 committees of the vocational education committees. In counties where the circular letter was adhered to and the boards set up as proposed, they have functioned quite satisfactorily and have met the needs of adult education in their counties with the resources that have been provided. County Mayo VEC and a number of other vocational education committees are of the view that adult education boards could form the basis of new learning councils and that there is no need to set up new structures at local level. There is a view that separate structures may be set up to organise and administer adult education and that the valuable work of vocational education committees could be undermined.
Adult education has been an integral part of the vocational education committees' work for more than 60 years and we have gained a great deal of experience providing programmes and courses for all sections of the community, at times with very few resources. Another source of concern are the new education centres which have been established throughout the counties, supposedly as teacher training centres but now regarded as educational centres. What their long-term function will be is not clear.
There have been many positive developments in adult education in recent years, particularly the setting up of the further education section in the Department and the appointment of a Minister of State. Funding for adult education has improved and support for the disadvantaged is now at a significant level. The missing link is the absence of a proper policy framework for adult education in order to allow it to be delivered in the most effective and efficient manner.
The role of the vocational education committees is critical to the future development of adult education. There are two possibilities. One is that the vocational education committees continue to play a central role as locally elected bodies and that their adult education boards, with a proper statutory basis, continue to provide a service, as they have done for the past 20 years. The other is that the vocational education committees become one of the players in adult education, merely playing a subsidiary role in the new structure.