SIPTU TO PICKET DAIL OVER GALWAY REFUGEE LANGUAGE SERVICE

Date Published: 03-Jul-2008

A second organisation is calling on the Government to reconsider its decision to close language training and integration centres for refugees, including one in Galway. Members of SIPTU will picket the Dail today after a meeting with officials from the Department of Education failed to secure any commitment on funding. Up to 40 staff and students of the Centre at Westside in the city protested in Eyre Square two weeks ago after the Department of Education decided VEC schools would take over the service. The Refugee Information Service condemned the transfer of English language training to the VEC.Union spokesperson Padraig Yeates says the Integrated Ireland Language and Training centre currently caters for up to one thousand students around the country.