Vol. 509 No. 3
91 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the UN human development report which suggested that almost 23 per cent of Irish people were functionally illiterate; and the steps, if any, he will take to deal with the problem. [20086/99]
I am aware of the findings of this report, which relies on the International Adult Literacy Survey published in 1997. The survey showed that 23 per cent of Irish adults scored at the bottom literacy level performing at best tasks which required the reader to locate a simple piece of information in a text, with no distracting information.
The budget for adult literacy has been increased from a base of £850,000 prior to the Government taking office in 1997, to an annual budget of £5.665 million by the end of 1999. Following consultation with key interests, an adult literacy development fund was established to fund a range of pilot actions to inform future practice. The priorities identified for the fund were promotion of public awareness, outreach strategies to target those most in need, the establishment of referral networks on an area basis involving a wide range of local key actors, flexibility of timing of provision, and the development of a continuum from one to one voluntary tuition, to tuition in small groups, with the option of national certification. The number of clients catered has doubled to at least 10,000, referral networks have been developed and strengthened, and family literacy groups involving both adults and their children have been expanded. Open learning centres are being piloted, along with literacy groups for migrant women, travellers, and programmes for the unemployed in co-operation with the community employment scheme.
FÁS welfare and employment services are working closely with vocational education committees ensure optimum co-operation to achieve the goals of the national employment action plan. Funding from my Department for the National Adult Literacy Agency has also been increased and has been used for awareness activities, enhanced links with other agencies, an increased focus on tutor training and support, training of tutors to support work-place literacy, and the development of quality standards.
