Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In that regard, in the context of today's meeting I took down the recent glossy Action Plan for Jobs and the Action Plan for Education. I can find nothing concrete on apprenticeships or traineeships - however one wants to describe them. For a lot of children, both working class and middle class, these are an essential avenue to gaining a highly desirable skill. Moreover, many of them go on to form their own firms. A look around IBEC's membership will show that such persons are key SME founders. The Government places significant focus on regional and rural development but I do not see that happening unless there is more upskilling and more apprenticeships. Micro-enterprises can start off as a one, two or three-person outfit and then can scale up at a local level provided they have reasonable access to credit.

Is there one thing IBEC would suggest to us as a committee? As I say, these are lovely plans. They are beautiful, I am sure many trees died for them but my point is there is nothing specific in them. Certainly, speaking to IBEC during my period in government, I would have seen this. Does IBEC have a suggestion?

IBEC pays a training levy. It is not fully spent. Can IBEC explain why it is not spent? Those involved in the education field could identify ways of spending it. What is the lock on that?