Mr. Michael Hourihan:

I agree that something must be done, and consulting with the Institute of Guidance Counsellors is probably the best approach. There are guidance counsellors out there who are well informed but some are not. This just needs to be clarified because I think many people assume the apprenticeship system follows the traditional level 7 and level 8 approach, but it does not. It is a completely different system. That needs to be made known to all concerned.

Deputy Nolan spoke about initiatives. I thank her for visiting the skills competition. I am involved in it heavily at national level. We run the skills competitions in CIT and DIT mainly. They happen every year but few people are aware of them. We are considering developing them and working with people to hold the competitions in the RDS, perhaps, as an annual event. That is the way forward. An event on its own promoting apprenticeships would put such competitions and apprenticeships out there. That is the answer.