Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I brought it to Cabinet yesterday. It has now gone out for a response. A specialist group has been set up and is headed up by Mr. Kevin Duffy, the chairman of the Labour Court, who started his career as an apprentice bricklayer and has an intimate knowledge of apprenticeships through time since he was on the council of AnCO and then FÁS. The subject is now out for consultation.

The main recommendation effectively for members who are not immediately familiar with it - and the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon can elaborate on it - is that an apprenticeship should effectively be a minimum of 104 weeks or two years consisting of 50% spent on education off the job and the remaining 50% training on the job. The apprenticeship would be a paid post, subject to employment law and contractual protections in a number of areas and not a student rate position. The minimum period should be two years. Our biggest barrier to getting an effective 21st century apprenticeship programme up and running is the willingness of employers to engage with and to provide not just the places but the training associated with the places. There is a personnel manpower management imposition obligation for them. I welcome the fact that the committee will have hearings. I suggest that the committee focus on the training side. There is no difficulty relatively speaking - I think the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, will agree with me on the training side. We have the capacity to provide the educational components of the apprenticeship, the real difficulty is finding employers who are willing to put their money where their mouth is and pony up with structured places where training can be delivered on the job.

Let me suggest that the Chair might call the representatives from IBEC to see how they will respond to the recommendations in the report.