Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 July 2011
232 Deputy Joe Costello asked the Minister for Education and Skills when and the reason FÁS has ceased payment of the security licence fee as part of the FETAC security training course; and if she will reinstate the practice of covering this cost in order that successful participants can progress to the labour market. [22547/11]
View answerI am informed that FÁS has examined this issue and it would appear that there are different approaches taken across the FÁS regions.
Some regions include the licence fee in the certification cost of the course and therefore there is no cost to the trainee. In other instances trainees are informed at the outset of the course that application for the licence must be done individually by the trainee.
It is important to point out that in instances where the individual trainee is responsible for the application they are eligible to apply for funding under the Technical Employment Support Grant.
I understand that it is the intention of FÁS to conduct a full review of policy in this area in order to establish a consistent approach across all FÁS regions.
