asked the Minister for Education the number of staff in his Department and in the education system who are exclusively involved in (a) promoting and (b) administering adult education and if he will give comparative figures in respect of the EEC countries.

Provision for the promotion and administration of adult education services is not made in my Department by the allocation of staff exclusively for this purpose. A similar situation applies, in general, in relation to the vocational education committees.

The educational systems of the EEC countries vary widely and different arrangements in respect of adult education provision apply in individual countries.

It is not possible, accordingly, to provide comparative statistics as requested by the Deputy.

Are we to take it that there is nobody in the Department who is involved exclusively in the promotion of adult education?

In so far as the answer indicates, such provision is not made.

Is the answer "yes" or "no"?

If the Deputy will think in terms of education generally he will realise that there may be officers with a duality of interests and that this does not mean necessarily that any aspect is being neglected simply because there are not people with specific duties in that area.

The position is, therefore, that there is not in the Department a full-time official dealing with the matter of adult education.

That is the position at present.