Mr. John Murphy:

I am glad the Deputy raised the point on apprenticeships. In referring to the ICT sector I highlighted the importance of non-graduate skills. The Government has just published a review of apprenticeship. It has been designed to streamline the model to move away from the traditional focus on trades to identify ways of developing an accredited training programme to an appropriate standard covering a much broader range of skills and in a much more flexible way. However, critically, it needs the right relationship with industry. Much of the work in which Forfás has been involved is about identifying, classifying and drilling down into the skills needs of enterprise and industry. In that regard, the restructuring of Solas and the development of its strategy will be very important in order that the new provisions identified in the review of apprenticeships are used and that people grab the opportunities available.