Mr. Paul O'Toole:

A huge number of points were made by fellow contributors but I will concentrate on the points made by the Chairman, Deputies and Senators. I wish to make one observation to start. When I attended previous manifestations of this committee under previous Governments during the recession, the narrative was about how to help unemployed people in a time of recession and deep trouble. While the challenges are huge now, it is a much more positive time because the challenges are about positive opportunity and how to maximise and leverage them, as distinct from no opportunity at all.

A number of points were made about the level of ambition for apprenticeship. I would fold traineeship into that as well. Consider some of the numbers provided by Tom Parlon and Dermot Carey. In 2007, at the peak, there was a population of 28,500 apprentices in the system. In 2013, there 5,700. That was a fall of 80%. Today, there are over 11,000 in the system and the number is growing. The ambition is that between now and 2020 there will be a registration of 50,000 in a combination of apprenticeships and traineeships.

We are coming from a very low base off the recession, and it will take the collective will of employers, providers, the representative bodies here today, the trade unions, ourselves and others in the education system to realise this. There is very strong ambition for apprenticeship and traineeship, and I want to reinforce this. Even though the journey is challenging, this is our aim.

A number of comments were made in respect of female apprenticeship, and the numbers are stark. There are very few female apprenticeships in the existing cohort. While new occupations are opening up which will create opportunities, it is important we try to understand why this is the case. We have done some research with young men, young women, parents and guidance teachers about why this is so. The truth of it is apprenticeship is not even on the radar of young women. They do not think about apprenticeship. They do not see themselves there. If we think of subject choices that might be taken when people enter secondary school and the opportunities to get experience in craft-type learning, it just does not happen. There are deep rooted issues we have to tackle, but one of the biggest, which links to points made by a number of members and others, is the need to promote. Apprenticeship is not as understood as it should be. We, along with employers, trade unions and others, have a job to do to make information available in an accessible format, so school leavers, whose immediate familiarity is with the CAO system, can potentially look at an apprenticeship and think of other opportunities. Apprenticeship is not a course. It is a period of learning that starts with an employer and then migrates to the State in terms of off-the-job training. We really have a job to do on this.

A number of people mentioned WorldSkills and how important this is and how very well we do. We work collaboratively with Cork Institute of Technology and others on this. It is a wonderful window into the skills of our craftspeople and others, and there is an opportunity to grow it and use it as a vehicle of promotion to the possibilities of apprenticeship of which we want to be part.

The Chairman mentioned parity of esteem. Many of the other commentators spoke about how well we regard apprenticeships and what we value. With better information and promotion of apprenticeship, and the reality that apprenticeships create the possibility of work for life, there is the opportunity to rebalance this. When I was growing up apprenticeships were highly valued and people sought them. This is still there, but maybe not as manifest as it should be.

Another point was made on innovation and how we have a more innovative approach to expanding the range of apprenticeships and looking at new areas. I look at innovation in two ways. There is innovation within each apprenticeship. We systematically review each existing apprenticeship, mindful of changing processes, technologies and ways of working in each of the crafts, trying to ensure the new curriculum reflects the new realities of ways of working so we keep abreast of the type of skills required for the future. It was suggested that as the new apprenticeships start rolling, and we have five already with 19 in development, we will see a range of occupations open up for new possibilities of apprenticeship, mindful again of the point of tying in traineeship to this. We have a number of challenges, including the challenge of securing the necessary resources, and we are part of the process of the review of funding taking place in higher education and further education and training as we speak. While there is this challenge for resources, there is a more positive climate to try to generate more apprenticeships and better quality opportunities for our learners.