Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak today on this important subject. I recognise the work that has been undertaken by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on the issue of apprenticeships. My contribution is not intended for the Minister of State but more to have a discussion about apprenticeships on the whole. Who they are for? Who may they not be for and who benefits from them? I am somewhat cautious when the Construction Industry Federation points to a skills gap and I know very well who it is it intends to fill that gap.

In Ireland we have a certain cohort of people who take up university places and jobs in the highest sectors. There is another cohort of people who are expected to fill in within the low-wage economy or else take on apprenticeships which I think are really valuable. When I left school aged 18, I became an apprentice plumber. I was told I could go anywhere in the world given that we were in the middle of a boom. Within a year or two, I along with 18 other people on the site were all let go and inevitably they were spread throughout the world.

Many people benefit from apprenticeships and for some it is clearly a very prestigious profession. However, they are also jobs that are at risk from digitalisation, automation and what might happen in the economy. How are we future-proofing the sectors the Minister of State highlighted in his contribution? The employers' federation believes we have serious skills gaps. However, skills gaps will not just be filled by bringing apprentices into the city and paying them €246 a week when we know they cannot afford rent. We need to take an holistic approach and identify the barriers to people entering these industries and apprenticeships.

It also goes beyond that. What is the future in 20 years' time for an 18-year-old today undertaking an apprenticeship as a mechanic, electrician or plumber? It is inevitable that in 20 years' time that profession will be vastly different. Therefore, at 38 years of age that person's job may simply be gone and taken up by artificial intelligence or robotics. How can we future-proof this?

Ireland is probably uniquely placed to benefit from expanding technology apprenticeships into areas along the lines of tech apprenticeships. We have some of the biggest multinational corporations in the world on our doorstep, some of them within a mile of where we are now. I refer to companies such as Google, Microsoft and others. They are all around us, but are they playing their part in supporting young people to be ready for the jobs of tomorrow?

In many of these organisations, the minimum education requirements inevitably require third level degrees and beyond. That excludes a significant cohort of people predominantly from working-class communities from being able to enter them. If we want to get apprenticeships right, we need to future-proof them. Of course, we need the jobs of today. We are facing major challenges in construction. We cannot imagine that will last forever. How do we get young people, particularly from working-class low-income communities into those jobs?

In The Irish Timeslist of feeder schools showing who gets to go to third level education, inevitably the top places are held by those who come from the most prestigious parts of the country. For example, in excess of 99% of students from Dublin 6W get to go on to university. Not that many people need to go on to university and we should not expect them to. We should not just expect apprenticeship schemes to go to people from working-class communities. That needs to be factored into our considerations.

Some people do not want to get involved in apprenticeships because the National Minimum Wage Act 2000 excludes apprentices. That is something the Government can correct.

When we consider the confluence of crises that exist in the country at the moment, it is impossible for an apprentice who is working for €246 per week to afford rent, childcare, where it exists, or the cost of living. All of these factors matter. We need to be a lot more innovative. We need to be future-proofing our economy. We should not just expect that people from particular locations will go on and fill these jobs and when the economy turns and those jobs are lost to automation or whatever other developments happen in the future, they will simply go back to being underemployed and not utilised. There is a job of work to be done and I hope we can do it.

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