Dr. Peter Rigney:

The running on the question of apprenticeship and fees has been made by our major affiliate, the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union. They make the case - in my view, quite persuasively - that apprentices are being charged fees which are allegedly for student services, despite the fact that for the majority of their short time in college they are not in a position to avail of those services and, additionally, they are paying PAYE and PRSI, so they are making their contribution to society in a different way.
As regards potential for further apprenticeship designation, while that will emerge, it is important to remember that traditionally in apprenticeship - solicitor apprenticeship is a classic case - apprentices accept a low wage for a period of time in training to progress to a higher wage. Hospitality is traditionally a low-wage sector. If one looks at the Galway city edition of The Connacht Tribunefor the week before last, the local head of the Irish Hotels Federation stated that people will not work in their sector even though they pay the third highest minimum wage in western Europe. Regardless of the rate of the minimum wage, apprentices will not accept low pay for a period of time in order to then work for the minimum wage. This has to be sold to the mammies of Ireland who sit beside their offspring when they are making out CAO forms. That is the situation.
The other matter about the German model is that Irish society has bought into the idea of a leaving certificate that will qualify a person for everything. In an ideal world it might be great to have the German dual system and say that one must make a choice at the age of 15 or 16 years, but I do not think Irish society will accept that. Irish society, as I stated, has bought into the idea that everyone does the leaving certificate. That is a societal value that we hold. It may be wrong from the point of view of the sociologist, but it is the value that we as a society hold.