Rory O'Hanlon
Ceist:76 Dr. O'Hanlon asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the number of early school leavers, county by county; and the arrangements, if any, which are being made to address inequity in the system.
Written Answers. - Early School Leavers.
I understand that in response to a question put to my colleague the Minister for Education last month by Deputy Crawford, a breakdown of the national statistics on early school leavers is being compiled. That information will be given to Deputies O'Hanlon and Crawford as soon as it becomes available.
I am not clear what Deputy O'Hanlon means with regard to inequity in the system. Inequity in the education system would be a matter for the Minister for Education. If he is referring to inequity in the provision of opportunities under the Youthreach programme which is specifically designed to deal with the problem of early school leavers, I would advise the Deputy that the programme is jointly operated by FÁS and the Department of Education. It provides foundation and developmental type educational opportunities for early school leavers lasting for up to two years and the objective is to enable young people to then return to mainstream education, progress to a mainline training programme or obtain employment.
The level of provision is determined locally by the FÁS regional director and the chief executive officer of the vocational education committee in the light of the information available on early school leaving patterns from second level schools in the region.
The Deputy may be aware that additional resources were provided in the budget for the Department of Education for the provision of extra Youthreach places in the education sector. Consultations are taking place with regard to the allocation of these extra places.