Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish you all the best and congratulate you on your new position. Also, I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy English, who was an adept Chairman of this committee and I wish him every success.

One thing I am delighted about is the fact that training, education and jobs are all coming under one remit now. Recently I learned of a company whose representatives sat down with a college and they were able to design a programme for the type of graduates they were looking for. If that is happening in the real world it needs to happen within Departments as well in order that we can get a quicker linkup. I welcome the fact that there is knowledge transfer. I saw the Minister of State's photograph or mugshot the other day in a slide in the National University of Ireland, Maynooth at a session with local business people about what the college can do for small and medium sized businesses in the Kildare area. That is one of the real positives of the appointment of the Minister of State.

I will be following up with the Minister of State on the question of apprenticeships. The idea of a teaching block makes it far more difficult for small and micro-businesses to get involved in the apprenticeship scheme, which is only set up or geared up for larger companies. In the old days, whether under AnCO or beforehand, apprentices spent one day per week in DIT, Kevin Street or Bolton Street, but they were still part of the company and were working constantly in the company. It does not suit smaller enterprises to take on apprentices but we need to take them on in future.

I welcome the Minister of State's appointment and I look forward to working with him. I am delighted that the skills and training sides are coming into the Department because that is where the future will be. We need to be able to move quickly to direct where our future employment is going to be as well as link in with the children coming out of colleges and schools.