Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 June 2023
130. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science his plans to develop and support further and higher education in County Monaghan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26748/23]
View answerCavan Monaghan Education and Training Board (CMETB) provides a broad range of further education and training options in Monaghan Institute and at other locations around County Monaghan. These options include various Adult and Community Education Programmes; PLC courses, Skills to Compete and Skills to Advance courses, Youthreach, as well as Apprenticeships and Traineeships. Tanagh Outdoor Education Centre also provides a range of specialised programmes.
The FET provision in County Monaghan, as across the country, is being supported and expanded by the investment under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025, the Adult Literacy for Life Strategy and Future FET: Transforming Learning, the FET strategy 2020-2024. All 16 ETBs, including CMETB, have in place a Strategic Performance Agreement with SOLAS for the period of 2022-2024. In all agreements each ETB sets out their ambition for achievement across the 12 agreed national targets. In addition, each agreement is effectively an implementation framework for the above strategies, with commitments and actions included to support achievement of the overall Transforming Learning agenda.
CMETB is leading one of 13 projects which are funded nationally by SOLAS under the Skills to Advance Innovation for Collaboration Fund. This project, originally developed for the food sector, focuses on developing key skills in Business Innovation and Market Development applicable to a range of business sectors. It is currently being piloted with the view to roll out across the country from the autumn. This agile programme provides a bite-sized, flexible offer to stimulate innovation in SME product/service development and market expansion. It provides a national framework for supporting innovation in SMEs.
It is also important to set-out these plans in the context of the border regions. The demand for skills does not stop at the border and for this reason, I fully endorse the development of cross-border projects in conjunction with the Regional Colleges in Northern Ireland. This measure will not just address skills provisions, but also ensure compatible education and training provisions in all regions. I believe that the new PEACE PLUS programme will provide further opportunity for these collaborations to flourish.
