Concerns Expressed About Reductions In Some Education And Training Courses In County Tipperary

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Concerns are being expressed about reductions in the provision of some Education and Training courses in county Tipperary.

It is understood that full time tutors at several centres have been informed that their contracts will not be renewed for September. Cancelling the course will also lead to some part time tutors also losing income in the coming academic year.  The lack of the courses will also impact early school leavers, young people and others for whom the course was a pathway to further education and employment options.

The courses are provided under the Local Training Initiative and local centres impacted are in Cashel, Tipperary town and Cahir. Tipperary ETB has been contacted for comment but Tipp Mid West understands that SOLAS reduced their funding allocation to Tipperary ETB and the management had to decide where to make the cuts.

The funding cut comes at a time when the Government is moving to pass legislation to access the surplus of €1.8B in the National Training Fund. On June 17th Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science James Lawless announced plans to use €1.5B of the fund for the tertiary education sector over a six-year period from 2025 to 2030. It is understood that the cut to Tipperary ETB’s budget is in the order of between one and two million euros. The National Training Fund had a surplus of €1.8B as of the end of 2024 and has been funded through a levy on employers since 2000.