asked the Minister for Labour the number of people who participated in AnCO courses in 1985 under the various courses.

The number of people who were trained on AnCO courses in 1985 was 38,456 as follows:

Is the Minister in a position to give us an estimate of the figure for this year? Will he tell the House how it compares with the 1985 figure? Will the cutbacks in his Department announced in last week's budget have any impact on the numbers?

I am not in a position to give a detailed reply to the Deputy to that question because, as he is aware, changes were made in some of the Estimates, including that of the Department of Labour, within the context of the budget. AnCO are currently reassessing their position. I will have the information available within a matter of weeks and I will then be in a position to give the detailed estimates the Deputy has requested.

I accept the difficulties the Minister may encounter because of the cutbacks announced by the Minister for Finance last week but surely he is in a position to say whether he expects that there will be more or less than the 1985 figure in 1986.

I hope there will be more in 1986 but, as the Deputy, a former Minister for Labour, will readily realise, the critical point in all of this is the number of man years as distinct from the number of participants in individual courses. AnCO have to look at a variety of options and I have requested them to match, if not exceed, what was achieved last year.