Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegates and thank them for their submissions. I agree with Mr. Donohoe that the timelines are both ambitious and achievable. They are also very much interlinked. The point Mr. Donohoe made in regard to the need for funding to be pinpointed in budget 2015 is a critical one. The timelines that are envisaged would mean the Minister having to allocate resources in the second quarter of next year to bring this to the next stage. If those moneys are not put in place in the upcoming budget in October, we are setting up a roadblock that is bound to delay progress in 2015. There is some planning to do in this regard. All of the submissions we are discussing today refer frequently to funding, financing and costing, but I do not see any actual figures. How can we evaluate the amount of funding that will be required to ensure the timelines can be met?
We have had several references to the lack of gender balance in the apprenticeship system and the opportunity we have to address it. Dr. Rigney stated that an obvious way to broaden gender participation is to broaden the range of apprenticeships types on offer. He went on to observe:

However, we should not lose sight of the fact that the most significant gender issue in the Irish education and training sector is the under-achievement of young boys. The apprenticeship system as currently structured goes some way to address this.

I seek elaboration. Does the current structure, which is mainly aimed at men, mean balance should be addressed through apprenticeships for women? How can the gender balance be achieved? How will sustainability criteria be set out? Proposals for new apprenticeships will be measured by a sustainability test to see if they can proceed. Apprenticeships have previously been based on needs, rather than being led by enterprise, but once needs change the apprenticeships become redundant.

The report and some of the presentations touched on the issue of the transferability of skills and this critical area must be developed. We must create apprenticeship schemes that help develop numerous skills simultaneously. For example, if the construction industry collapses an apprentice engineer, carpenter or bricklayer may not find work and therefore must learn other skills during his or her apprenticeship that will help the transfer to a new area of employment or further education. Rather than joining a dole queue it is important that apprentices learn varied skills that will help them progress. This issue of the transferability of skills will create a challenge in designing new courses and I presume the sustainability test will take it into account. If the market for which apprenticeship skills were primarily intended collapses it is vital that those skills can be transferred elsewhere. I seek more information on this.