asked the Minister for Labour if he will make a statement on the future of the AnCO centre at Gweedore, County Donegal.

5.

asked the Minister for Labour the number of apprentices-trainees from the Gaeltacht attending courses outside the Gaeltacht which are available at the Gweedore centre, County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

6.

asked the Minister for Labour if he is prepared to extend the catchment areas for the Gweedore AnCO centre; if it has been established that this centre cannot survive with the number of applicants from the Gaeltacht alone; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

7.

asked the Minister for Labour the efforts being made by AnCO to ascertain the position of Gaeltacht areas in relation to job prospects.

8.

asked the Minister for Labour how AnCO and Údarás na Gaeltachta co-operate in relation to the up-dating of skills in the Gaeltacht area.

9.

asked the Minister for Labour if he is prepared to offer an enticement to applicants to train at the AnCO centre, Gweedore, County Donegal.

10.

asked the Minister for Labour the courses available at the AnCO centre, Gweedore, County Donegal.

11.

asked the Minister for Labour if the AnCO centre at Gweedore, County Donegal, will continue the excellent work which is carried out under the community youth training programme in the Gaeltacht areas in County Donegal and which is appreciated by the local population.

12.

asked the Minister for Labour the position regarding the AnCO training centre at Gweedore, County Donegal; and the role he envisages for it in the future.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 to 12, inclusive, together. The AnCO Training Centre in Gweedore is a permanent training centre and it is AnCO policy to retain it as such. With the completion of the new AnCO Training Centre in Letterkenny, the Gweedore centre will now cater exclusively for all Gaeltacht areas on a national basis and for people from non-Gaeltacht areas who express a preference to take courses through the medium of Irish.

The catchment area of the Gweedore Training Centre is not being extended. However, AnCO are confident that the 64 places to be provided at the centre will be filled given the range of courses they propose to provide there. AnCO, in co-operation with Údarás na Gaeltachta, have reorganised their provision of courses at Gweedore to meet the needs of Gaeltacht industry. AnCO will keep these needs under constant review and the range of courses at the centre will be revised according to need.

AnCO and Údarás na Gaeltachta have a very close and good working relationship and their officers meet regularly to discuss all matters in relation to training needs including updating of skills in Gaeltacht areas. For example, the Research and Planning Division of AnCO conducted a survey of Gaeltacht training needs during the summer months in 1983. The results of the survey were subsequently discussed with Údarás personnel.

With regard to ascertaining the needs of Gaeltacht industry, AnCO keep in regular contact with employers in relation to employment and job prospects for their trainees. Údarás na Gaeltachta are also very active in this area.

AnCO do not propose to take any special measures to entice trainees to the Gweedore centre. The standard AnCO training and accommodation expenses apply to trainees attending the AnCO Gweedore Training Centre. However, Údarás will pay travel allowances to trainees from distant Gaeltacht areas who have to travel to Gweedore for training.

Currently there are seven first-year apprentices from Gaeltacht areas in the country attending AnCO training centres other than the Gweedore centre, on courses which are available at the Gweedore centre. In addition, there are seven trainees on community youth training projects from Gaeltacht areas in the country who are attached to another AnCO training centre.

I am circulating in the Official Report a table showing the courses that are available at Gweedore centre now that the new Letterkenny centre is operational.

With regard to community youth training projects, AnCO will continue to give the same priority attention to Gaeltacht areas. I am circulating also in the Official Report a list of the Community Youth Training Projects which have been completed to date in Gaeltacht areas in County Donegal; projects which are on-going at the moment and projects which have been approved but have not yet commenced in those areas.

Following is the table:

Courses available at the AnCO Gweedore Training Centre

*AnCO proposes, depending on demand, to rotate courses of a related nature. For example as regards apprentice courses AnCO propose to rotate courses each year between plumber, fitter and electrician crafts. AnCO would review the situation where Údarás identified the need to continue a particular course rather than rotate as proposed.

Note: Facilities for product prototype development will also be provided and Údarás na Gaeltachta are promoting this with AnCO.

Following is the list:

AnCO Community Youth Training Projects— Donegal Gaeltacht

The CYTP projects on-going in Gaeltacht areas in Co. Donegal:

Has the AnCO centre in Gweedore the same status as any other AnCO centre in the country? I ask the question in view of the fact that this is the only Gaeltacht centre catering for the needs of most of the Gaeltacht.

I was happy some weeks ago to visit the Gweedore centre with my colleague, Deputy McGinley.

Did the Minister not take his other colleagues with him?

I was pleased on that occasion to be able to assure the trainees and the staff there that the future of the Gweedore centre is assured.

If that was the answer I required I would have asked the Minister whether he had been to Donegal, whether anyone had accompanied him and what were the views of the people there. Perhaps, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle you would ask the Minister to answer the question I asked.

There is an AnCO training centre at Gweedore. That situation will continue. Therefore any suggestion that the future of the centre is in doubt is mischievous.

I am calling Deputy McGinley.

I do not wish to let the Minister off the hook on this matter.

Deputy Gallagher has eight questions on the Order Paper on this issue. He has asked only one supplementary and you are now calling Deputy McGinley.

The Deputy has asked two supplementaries.

He has only asked one and that has not been answered.

I am calling Deputy McGinley and I will call Deputy Gallagher next.

In view of the fact that, as the Minister knows from his visit to the Gweedore centre some weeks ago, excellent work is being carried out there, would he consider appointing a local manager who would be in charge of the centre? This would go a long way towards instilling confidence in the people who work there.

The question of the appointment of management personnel is one for AnCO but I can tell the Deputy and the House that AnCO will be advertising in relation to a management appointment at the centre within the next few weeks.

Can the Minister say if the Gweedore centre has the same status as has each of the other training centres, — those in Kerry, Galway and Letterkenny?

Yes.

Why, then, does Gweedore not have a full-time manager and why is it not independent of all other centres?

I indicated in reply to Deputy McGinley a few moments ago that the appointment of a management person will be advertised in the course of the next few weeks and that the person appointed will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the centre.

The Minister has indicated that the Gweedore centre will be independent of all the other centres. Does it follow, then, that when a manager is appointed, the Gweedore centre will continue to be independent and not dependent on any other centre?

The intention is that the centre will have a relationship with the training centre in Letterkenny but there will be no reduction in the quality of service. The Deputy will be aware that the quality of facilities available to trainees at the centre has been improved. This is because the centre is now returning to the role that was intended originally for it, that is, to function as a training centre for the Gaeltacht areas.

I understand that the number of places available for trainees at Gweedore is about 64. If demand so requires, would AnCO be willing to increase the number of places there?

The intention is to keep the number of training places under constant review. In that regard there will be constant monitoring of the situation by both AnCO and Údarás na Gaeltachta.

The Minister stated earlier that the Gweedore centre would be absolutely independent but he then went on to say that there would be some liaison with the Letterkenny centre. I wish to know exactly where Gweedore stands in relation to status?

I have indicated clearly the purpose AnCO envisage for the Gweedore centre: that it will return to its traditional role as the training centre for the Gaeltacht in Donegal as well as nationally. It seems to me appropriate that AnCO should afford this priority to Gaeltacht areas. It is a view I would have expected to meet with support from Deputy Gallagher.

I am still not satisfied but at least I accept the assurance from the Minister that the Gweedore centre will be totally independent and will have the same status as each of the other centres. Is the Minister satisfied that the entire Gaeltacht area is sufficient to provide enough trainees for the Gweedore centre?

That is the very firm information available to me.

Would the Minister of State accept that students from the Gaeltacthaí of Galway, Cork or Kerry would certainly go to a training centre much nearer to them and that it is necessary to have some enticement for students from Gaeltacht areas other then Donegal to attend the Gweedore centre?

When I visited the Gweedore centre I was happy to have an opportunity to meet trainees from some of the Gaeltacht areas listed by the Deputy. I am quite confident that trainees from other Gaeltacht areas will continue to find the facilities at Gweedore attractive just as will others from non-Gaeltacht areas who are anxious to pursue courses in Irish.

I understand that there is close co-operation between AnCO and Údarás na Gaeltachta in carrying out recruitment for the centre at Gweedore. I also understand that they have certain plans to promote the Gweedore centre in other Gaeltacht areas. Could the Minister give us any details of the plans they have in mind or what stage is this promotion at at the moment?

I cannot add very much to what has been stated by the Deputy. Údarás na Gaeltachta and AnCO are co-operating very closely to ensure the continued success of the Gweedore training centre.

The Minister of State said he met all those people in Gweedore. Could he indicate the number of students from Gaeltacht areas other than Donegal who are attending courses in Gweedore?

I do not have that information with me.

I would like to put on record that the word "trainees" can mean two and that there are very few people there. I believe the Minister of State should reconsider, even though he stated in his original reply that he does not intend offering any enticement, offering enticements to students from Gaeltacht areas other than Donegal to attend the Gweedore training centre?

I indicated in my earlier reply that the standard AnCO training and accommodation allowances are available to people attending the Gweedore centre and that, in addition, Údarás na Gaeltachta are prepared to pay travel allowances to trainees from distant areas who find it necessary to travel to Gweedore for training. I cannot remember exactly how many people I spoke to but I assure Deputy Gallagher that there were a number of trainees there from the Kerry Gaeltacht and from the Connemara Gaeltacht, to name but two.

I am asking the Minister to consider, apart from what Údarás na Gaeltachta are offering, having his Department offer some enticement or at least consider the situation?

The indications available to me are that the demand for places will continue to be at a very high level and that no further incentive is required at this stage.

Why on the visit of the Minister of State to the Gweedore centre did he depart from what was normal procedure by just inviting one of the elected Members from that constituency to visit the centre with him? Would he not regard it as desirable since we are dealing with training of people and preparing them for working life, that on such visits he would be accompanied by all the elected Members from that constituency?

My visit to Gweedore was part of a wider vist to Donegal where I attended a number of functions and visited a number of institutions involved in the general manpower area and the general area of education and training. With regard to the Gweedore centre, the reason Deputy McGinley was with me was because he has taken a constant interest in the affairs of Gweedore. He has been with my office on an almost daily basis since I took office and I know has been an equally constant visitor to the offices of the Minister for Labour and his predecessor, Deputy Liam Kavanagh. In those circumstances Deputy McGinley was anxious that I visit Gweedore which is situated in his home parish.

I did not get an official invitation. I just presented myself there that morning and accompanied the Minister of State without an invitation.

If it was a party political visit to Gweedore I believe it should not merit mention in the House. If it was in the interests of the training of young people who are there — and, hopefully, will continue to be there — from all the Gaeltacht areas of the country would the Minister of State not agree with me that it is highly dangerous and divisory for him to visit a centre accompanied only by a Fine Gael TD when Deputy Pat Gallagher has in my experience been working in the interests of that centre long before he was an elected as a Member of this House?

I have no doubt that Deputy Gallagher has been working in the interests of the centre in Gweedore, just as I have no doubt that the remaining Member for the constituency, Deputy Cathal Coughlan, has been. I know that Deputy McGinley has been to see me, as I said, on an almost constant basis putting to me certain matters relating to the AnCO training centre. I was naturally anxious to investigate some of the points put to me at first hand with the person who had been putting those points to me who happened to be Deputy McGinley.

Question No. 13.

We spent twice as long on three questions as we have spent on those questions. Those eight questions are of vital importance to my constituency.

A final supplementary.

Will the Minister of State put it on the record that I have taken no particular interest in this? Does this here today not indicate my interest? Do the questions to the Department of Labour on previous occasions not indicate my interest? Does the Minister think that will cut ice with the people of south-west Donegal? If he does, his pettiness and his foolishness are certainly going to the lowest.