James Carroll has welcomed the 100 extra PLC places for County Louth announced by the Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe.

“Minister O’Keeffe has announced the providers of the extra 1,500 Post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) places from September as part of the Government’s response to the education and training needs of workers who face unemployment or who’ve lost their jobs.

The PLC programme will be offered around the country by 140 VEC schools, 23 secondary, and 26 community and comprehensive schools. “The extra PLC places form part of an increase of almost 7,000 new places on education courses included in the supplementary Budget last month.

‘These measures are a clear indication of the Government’s commitment to investing in those who are out of work so that they can return to employment as soon as possible.’

‘These measures are a clear indication of the Government’s commitment to up-skilling and re-skilling those who’ve lost their jobs or who face unemployment so that their prospects of getting back into the workforce as quickly as possible are optimised.’

Minister O’Keeffe said that a 2006 ESRI survey on school leavers who left school in the 2003/04 academic year showed that about 75pc of those who took PLC courses completed their studies, with 93pc of those getting certificates.

‘In our new economic circumstances, I expect that there will be very strong demand for these extra PLC places in County Louth as learners recognise the importance of up-skilling and retraining for a changed labour market.

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Notes

PLC courses are full-time and generally last one year.

They’re provided predominantly in the VEC sector but some community and comprehensive schools and secondary schools provide courses, too.

There are over 1,000 courses to choose from in more than 60 disciplines.

Through the Higher Education Links Scheme, PLCs courses are an alternative route to higher education in the Institutes of Technology for those who’ve completed the Leaving Certificate Applied programme or who were unable to enter third-level education after leaving school.

Maintenance grants were introduced on a means-tested basis from September 1998 for all PLC participants.

The rates of grant and means-testing criteria for the scheme follow the lines of the existing third-level schemes.

Summary of activation places in education sector outlined in the April Supplementary Budget

ENDS