Mr. Denis Rowan:

Yes. I believe there is a great opportunity here. We have built up apprenticeships in trades and the structure is robust. It was time for it to reviewed. The one-size-fits-all model was not appropriate to today. We have built up knowledge on how to run them. The expansion of it is the main issue. My view on it, having only been in the area for the past month or two, is that it must be slow and done right. It should not be a rush job to find ten new ones and get them up and running fairly fast. The curriculum should be designed to the standards, have the endorsement of employers, employers should be involved in it and it should be appropriate for the long term. The numbers involved is also an important factor in terms of whether we will train 100 people or whatever number. It is better we do it right. It better to start off and have two or three good apprenticeships a year and after five years there would be 15 rather that trying to run 20 in the first year. We are up for it and we have started to do some work on it. We have changed our staffing levels, we are waiting on this to develop and we will be at the centre of it. It will be a team approach involving not only us in the training centre but those in third level, employers and the stakeholders all working together. That is vital because the opportunities for young people are enormous. There is an opportunity for them to acquire a skill, a job and an award that will be worth something to them.