Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wished to raise the same issue. The fee had been dropped a number of years ago and introducing it at this time, when we are trying to encourage people to do an apprenticeship following the significant drop in numbers in recent times, makes it very difficult for those who are serving an apprenticeship to find the funding to do the course. At the early stages of the apprenticeship, the weekly allowance is very low and we must remember that starting an apprenticeship is not confined to those who are coming out of school and others who are serving an apprenticeship have wider responsibilities. It is a regressive step that flies in the face of stated Government policy to encourage people to take up training for employment. As Deputy O'Brien stated, the actual figure, although significant, in percentage terms of the overall budget is very low. The Minister is taking money from people who have not sufficient resources to pay it. I know the Minister has answered it already.