Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and the Department, IBEC and ICTU for the presentations. Many of the points I wanted to make have been raised so I will not go back over them. Gender balance is an issue and ICTU raised the matter of boys underachieving. What can the Department do to address the problem? Is it possible to broaden the range of apprenticeships and what kind of apprenticeships would have most benefit?

It was suggested that a portion of employees' PRSI could be ring-fenced to fund apprenticeships. The Department hates new ideas with regard to ring-fencing though it does not mind maintaining old systems of ring-fencing when it suits. Perhaps Dr. Rigney can expand on this and the comparison with the previous scheme of employers' PRSI.