A total of €26.5 million was allocated in 2014 to Education and Training Boards (ETBs) under the Adult Literacy programme. The cost of doubling this allocation would increase the total cost to €53 million. An additional €2.8 million was allocated to ETBs under the Workplace Basic Education Programme, funded from the National Training Fund, which provides literacy and numeracy tuition to people in the workplace. The cost of doubling this allocation would bring the total cost to €5.6 million.
The funding of these schemes comes within the remit of SOLAS, the Further Education and Training Authority. It will be a matter for SOLAS to address funding arrangements for these schemes as part of implementing Government policy through the annual service plan process undertaken by it with the ETBs.