Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Good morning to our guests. They are very welcome. It is wonderful to have them here.

I am very much in favour of these informed choices. They are such a wonderful opportunity, especially for students who are at secondary level. Quite recently, the Technological University of the Shannon at Athlone had a science, technology and engineering programme for schools, STEPS, engineering project, about which I have heard nothing but positive feedback from a group of transition year students who were there and enjoyed it. They knew nothing about it before they went in but they came out much better informed and thinking in a very different way than they may have been going into it. If more of those projects were to be provided, the uptake from students and their feedback would be very well received.

Mr. Beausang spoke of possible digital exclusion around AI and digitisation skills. Outside that gap in knowledge, if we call it that, are SOLAS witnessing any lack in literary or numeracy skills for apprentices coming through? If so, what supports are available? To focus on the apprenticeship model, does he have the figure for the total number of craft apprentices by ETB, technological university or college of further education? Does he have a breakdown of those apprentice numbers per apprenticeship type?