Community Training Centres

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 September 2020

Tuesday, 8 September 2020

Questions (838)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

838. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if the venues used by community education providers that deliver courses and training, for example, community employment schemes can be regarded as education facilities in order that numbers in the classroom can be over six persons; and the maximum number of persons which some of the local community venues utilised to deliver the courses are insisting on being complied with. [21880/20]

Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills

Community education provision is part of the broader Further Education and Training (FET) sector and the facilities that community education providers use should be regarded as education settings and not subject to the 6 person restriction. Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI) and SOLAS, supported by my Department, have developed implementation guidelines for the FET sector. Community education providers must ensure that these guidelines are observed in relation to distancing arrangements and the implications for class group size having regard to the characteristics of the venue in use. Broader public health guidelines should also be adhered to at all times. My Department has asked SOLAS and ETBI to engage with the community education sector to clarify the application of guidelines in the context of reopening and to explore the support Education and Training Boards can offer to community education providers.

The funding and supervision of the Community Employment programme is a matter for the Minister for Social Protection.