Mr. Tony Donohoe:

I am putting on my IBEC hat now. The Senator makes a very good point. We have been very frustrated at the slow uptake, which probably should not be surprising. This is a major change project. The Senator put his finger on a particular issue. The craft apprenticeships are still supported for their off-the-job training by the State through income support. We have a dual system where the new apprenticeships are not and the older apprenticeships are. I do not know how long that anomaly can continue. We have definitely got feedback from smaller firms in particular that it is an impediment. Interestingly it is not too bad when it is one day a week. However, some of the apprenticeships are structured on block release. In one in particular, the apprentice does not arrive for about 12 weeks and the employer is paying. That is obviously an issue.

Awareness is a major issue. While we welcome Generation Apprenticeship, I have always argued that we should focus our marketing on employers because if employers are not offering apprenticeships, we will not have apprenticeships. It is as simple as that.

I refer to one initiative in the pathways document that Dr. Trant mentioned. It probably should have happened if we had figured this out earlier. It is a portal allowing employers from any group to advertise their apprenticeships. At the moment it is down to the individual consortia. I do not know what the auctioneers are doing but I know industry consortia, such as the Insurance Institute, the Construction Industry Federation and Financial Services Ireland, are advertising apprenticeships. We need a central portal where employers can post the apprenticeships. Young people, their families, guidance counsellors, etc., need to know where to get them. We need a kind of online marketplace.

If we addressed those three things of cost; a dedicated marketing campaign, which feeds into Deputy Kelleher's point about creating the demand for upskilling among small firms; and a unified portal, we could make some progress. As somebody who has been frustrated at the speed of this, I feel it is gathering momentum. I think the model was right and we are on the right road. It would have been better if it has happened quicker, but these things take time.