I refer to the value of PLC programmes and the point made by the president of the TUI, Mr. Don Ryan. I am concerned about the cap. Mr. Ryan spoke about areas that never developed versus those that did and about geographic inconsistencies throughout the country.
Might we agree that arising from today's meeting the clerk should communicate with the relevant people in the Department of Education and Science regarding our concerns? I shall list a number of these. In addition, might we invite the departmental officials who deal with this issue to speak to the committee? As members have outlined, there are a number of concerns, starting with the value of the programmes. I tabled a parliamentary question recently about PLCs. In the reply the PLCs were described as "an integrated, general education, vocational training and work experience for young people". I do not see the programme as being so simple. I see it rather as speakers described it today. Deputy Burke's point about prevention measures was very important. He described how students can proceed to third level without making wrong decisions after their leaving certificate by going via the PLC course. They are much wiser in their choices at third level as a result, which is very important. In the present climate, what we might describe as the new unemployed or mature students are returning to the PLCs to redevelop skills. There is enormous value in those programmes. I would like the committee to question the Department of Education and Science on that value. That only 64% of students complete first year exams in third level colleges is something we should all be concerned about. Those who go through PLC courses do not have that experience. I would like to discuss that meaning of the word "value" with the Department because it is very significant.
The president of the TUI made points about the cap and areas that never developed. In particular, he mentioned Sligo. The college in Sligo has 600 PLC places for a population of 60,000. I represent a county with a population of 160,000, some 100,000 more than Sligo, and yet it can offer only 250 PLC places because of the cap. One would have to ask what is the story. Senator Keaveney has left now but I also looked at the figures for County Donegal. The cap in that county is for 200 PLC places. Therefore, there is not only an issue with the cap nationally but also in different counties in regard to population needs. County Donegal has a population of 147,000 and has 200 PLC places. My county has a population of 160,000 with 250 places allocated but let us compare my county to Cavan which has a population of 64,000 but which was allocated 1,300 places. Cavan is a neighbouring county with more than twice the number of places allocated to Meath but with a population of 100,000 fewer people. The committee should query this because there has been a historical build-up and the point was made by the delegation that certain areas were unable to develop beforehand and then a cap was applied. There is a national cap and a geographical cap.
I refer to the parliamentary questions I tabled to the Department of Education and Science. They describe how these caps are assigned and the nature of annual applications. This has been discussed, but the questions point out the necessity of ensuring appropriate provision on a geographic basis. I do not believe appropriate provision is applied on a geographic basis based on the figures I received from the Department.
I refer to the figures for the Dublin area. Upon a first glance they do not appear so bad; some 10,000 places are allocated in the Dublin area. However, 1 million people live in Dublin. In addition, there is no PLC, post leaving certificate, college in west Dublin, which has been subject to a great development of the population. This pattern is apparent in other areas of education as well, including the demand for places in primary and post-primary levels. The same factors apply in the PLC sector. Where are the people from west Dublin going to avail of PLC course places? I am familiar with the Blanchardstown and Mulhuddart areas because they are areas next to my county boundary. People are coming from these areas into Meath, which only has 250 places. We are catering for a substantial number of people from the Dublin area but this is not recognised because the cap is a Meath VEC cap. The Department of Education and Science is applying Meath VEC limits but there is no specification that an applicant's address must be in County Meath. This is an area we should query with the Department of Education and Science and it should be reviewed in terms of the national cap and on a county-by-county basis.
Ms Dolan made a very important point with regard to the need for the courses to be linked to labour market demand. This is critical in the current climate. Some people find they are unemployed but wish to return and take up a PLC course. They may wish to return to a different area of employment. There are two key groups of people in the VEC colleges, those who are targeting a change in career and who wish to be up-skilled in a particular area and those to whom Deputy Burke referred to, in particular, people on route to college who have recently completed the leaving certificate and for whom a PLC college is a wonderful place to spend 12 months. Such a choice may be to attain the number of points the student needs or to be sure it is a business course or degree or whatever that he or she wishes to pursue. However, such a PLC student entering third level is not likely to drop out before the first year exam and the statistics exist to support this. The value of these programmes is very significant.
One point discussed earlier related to the work of the committee and that when we hear excellent presentations, such as those we heard today, we should do something significant about it. We must raise these matters of concern with the Department of Education and Science. As in the matter of the schools building programmes, we should invite officials dealing with this matter in the Department of Education and Science to appear before the committee to tease out the historical aspects, to determine from where we have come to reach this point, to where must go and the overall importance of this matter in the current climate.