Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 1 Jul 1998

Vol. 493 No. 4

Adjournment Debate. - PLC Courses.

Mr. Flanagan

I am grateful to the Minister for coming to the House at this late hour. I draw his attention to a difficulty with post-leaving certificate courses in Portlaoise vocational school. In the academic year 1997-98, the school had 117 PLC students following seven courses. County Laois has no third level facility and it has the lowest level of third level participation in Ireland. The PLC courses have run successfully in recent years and have expanded and developed, so it is a pity the Minister has not allowed a further expansion this year.

For the next academic year, the school applied and received departmental approval for 16 PLC courses, one of which was an interesting and exciting new course in tele-services which attracts substantial additional funding. Some 295 students applied for places across the range of PLC courses. This has a staffing and funding consequence and I remind the Minister that in 1996 the school successfully appealed its allocation and the number of places was allowed to be in accordance with the applications. Extra staff is required, there is no great problem in finding space within the school, and almost 300 students have applied, so it is a pity the letter of approval from the Department to the chief executive officer of Laois VEC only approved 137 places. This position must be improved and I hope the Minister will allow the school authorities to develop these courses in accordance with many of his public utterances since taking office, in which he stated his commitment to increasing PLC places. Although the Minister appears to have capped the numbers in Portlaoise he has allowed for new centres in County Laois, and it is a pity the courses have been spread over the county rather than concentrated in the centre of excellence that is Portlaoise vocational school. I hope he will allow the school to continue to expand and give students a chance to remain in the rapidly developing county town rather than having to take courses elsewhere. A commitment is needed urgently, given that planning for the forthcoming academic year is well under way.

Minister for Education and Science (Mr. Martin)

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue because it gives me a chance to set the record straight. I reject the central charge in the Deputy's contribution and we may have to discuss the matter further because there appears to be mistakes in the figures he presented to the House. I have approved 257 places on PLC courses in County Laois schools in 1998-99, of which 197 are in the VEC sector. This reflects an 82 per cent increase over the enrolment level of 141 pupils for the county in 1997-98. I have also approved five additional wholetime teaching staff for the VEC to enable four new courses to be put in place.

Participation on the programme in the country overall was significantly increased last year — in 1996-97 some 18,712 people participated on PLC courses and for 1997-98 I approved 21,263 places, which was a substantial national increase. Some 22,727 places on the programme have been approved for 1998-99, thereby providing for an increase of 4,015 places in the two school years since the Government took office, compared with an increase of 1,035 places in the preceding three years. This is a significant expansion and has been accompanied by investment of £20 million for post-leaving certificate and apprenticeship places under the scientific and technology investment fund, which is the first time there has been a specific capital grant for PLC places. It has also been accompanied by the introduction of maintenance grants for all pupils who enrol from September 1998, the provision of £1.5 million to date for equipment in the centres approved for tele-services courses in 1997, and the establishment of a new student support scheme towards the cost of placing tele-services students abroad — we did that last September.

The PLC sector has proved its capacity to respond rapidly to changing skill needs, and I have taken steps to ensure increases in approval level in 1998-99 are being targeted at strategic areas such as tele-services. In that context the numbers on tele-services courses will increase from 435 in 1997-98 to 1,505 in 1998-99. The number of centres is being increased by 15 to 35 and there will be investment of the order of £75,000 for equipment in each of the new centres. Among the centres which will benefit from this is Portlaoise vocational school, and that is a significant investment in terms of this programme.

The Government's programme for education in the years ahead will include considerable investment in tackling disadvantage, ensuring that support services are provided to enable young people at risk to maximise their participation in and benefit from schooling, ensuring that programmes are relevant to fulfil social and economic needs, and that second chance opportunities are provided for those who have missed out in their initial schooling. Systematic investment in in-service training, certification and assessment and evaluation systems will also be provided to ensure a high quality, cost-effective system.

I have already allowed for a substantial increase in PLC provision in County Laois for 1998-99. If problems materialise when final decisions on course choices are made by students in September, my Department will re-examine the position. Arrangements have been made for officials of my Department to meet Deputies for the area on Tuesday, 14 July to discuss the matter further.

Mr. Flanagan

That is the first I have heard of that.

Mr. Martin

A colleague of the Deputy suggested he knew about it before the Adjournment matter was put down and that Deputies has agreed among themselves to a meeting.

Mr. Flanagan

The Department has not replied to my letters.

Mr. Martin

This came from people in Portlaoise, it was not initiated by my Department or me. We are simply responding to a request for a meeting and we have agreed to it. If one compares enrolments in Portlaoise, Abbeyleix and Mountrath, in 1997-98 there were 117 enrolments in Portlaoise alone and in 1998-99 there will be 137, which is a substantial increase. In the FE centre in Abbeyleix, no places were provided in 1997-98 but for the next academic year we are providing 40 places.

In St. Aonghus, Mountrath, we are providing 20 where none was provided in 1997-98. In Heywood community school, there was six provided in 1997-98 and we are providing 40. In Ballinakill, 18 were provided in 1997-98 and we are providing 20. We are going from 141 to 257. I do not see how it could be argued I have been less than generous in Portlaoise or County Laois — the opposite is the case.