On 11 June 2001, the Further Education and Training Awards Council, FETAC, was set up as a statutory body by the Minister for Education and Science, under the Education and Training Act 1999. This Act is under the remit of the Department of Education and Science.
FÁS, the training body under the aegis of my Department does deliver some FETAC accredited training courses. These are broken into 14 adult training provision categories and five apprenticeship training provision categories. The eligibility conditions of each course are written in the course training specification namely, trainee profile. This varies depending on the nature of each course.
There is not a condition that one should be in receipt of a welfare payment to qualify for a FETAC course delivered by FÁS. In certain courses, however, priority is given to those on the live register.