Vol. 572 No. 2
113 Mr. O'Connor asked the Minister for Education and Science the priorities of his Department in respect of Ireland's Presidency of the European Union in 2004; if his attention has been drawn to the interest being generated by these issues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22653/03]
Preparations for the EU Presidency are well under way in my Department and will be finalised in December next following the last European Council of the Italian Presidency.
I have chosen an overall Presidency theme for the education and youth sectors entitled, Building an Inclusive and Competitive Europe. The following priority areas of activity have been identified at this stage.
There will be two formal Education Councils held in Brussels during Ireland's Presidency in February and May 2004. The main agenda item for the February Council will be the review of the education and training elements of the Lisbon Agenda which seeks to make the EU the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. It is intended that the May Council, which will also deal with youth issues, will focus on the initiation of discussions on the new generation of EU education and youth programmes due to commence in 2007. These will be the successors to the existing Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci and Youth programmes.
In addition to the two formal Councils in Brussels, my Department will be holding a wide range of conferences and seminars in Ireland covering issues such as ICTs and digital learning; special needs education; vocational training; and higher education.
As part of the Presidency programme in Ireland I will host an informal EU ministerial conference on guidance and counselling and a meeting of OECD Ministers for Education. The Minister of State, Deputy de Valera, will host an informal EU ministerial conference on youth issues.
In January next I will also be launching 2004 as the European Year of Education through Sport in conjunction with my colleague Deputy O'Donoghue, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, and a number of related events are being planned as part of the Presidency programme.
