TUI ads calling for more PLC funding

A TEACHERS’ union has taken out advertisements in national newspapers to protest at what it calls Government failure to properly invest in further education.

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) is estimated to have spent well over €10,000 on the ad campaign, calling for immediate funding for a restructuring package for further education and Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) colleges.

Around 220 such institutions have 30,000 students, including adults who might not otherwise be able to return to education.

The union was furious when last month’s Government spending estimates included no provision to implement the recommendations of the 2003 McIver Report, commissioned by the Department of Education. It set out proposals to restructure the sector, currently funded in the department’s second level budget.

The union plans to rally outside the Dáil when Finance Minister Brian Cowen delivers his Budget speech next week.

In the ad, the TUI wrote: “The Government has turned its back on further education colleges by failing to provide in the estimates to implement its own plan for the sector. The report, published in 2003, continues to gather dust in the Department of Education.”