Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

He is a Coolea man, I think, but I congratulate all the participants. It is an amazing achievement. There has clearly been a strong track record over recent years.

I have a few questions for the participants but also for SOLAS. New courses are opening up and we are moving in the right direction, but we are still a long way behind the likes of Germany and Austria in that I think they have occupations well into the hundreds. I am not sure how many occupations we have. The witnesses can tell me now. It is certainly fewer than a hundred, I would say. It is in the 40s. There is surely significant scope for enhancing that, so perhaps the witnesses could tell us a bit about how they intend to move in that direction and how we might move towards the way in which they manage things in Germany or Austria.

I have a very specific question about something that has come up with industry. Are there many apprenticeships in instrumentation and electrical instrumentation at the moment? As far as I know, there is a serious shortage in this regard. It comes up with businesspeople in Cork - pharmaceutical companies and so on. There is a gap there. It is a really attractive trade but not many people seem to be going into it. If the witnesses have not already answered that, perhaps they might do so. It is an anecdotal matter.

It is probably difficult for the participants to say what about the system could be fixed, given the current environment, but perhaps they could tell us what the best elements of the apprenticeship system in Ireland are and what we need to work on. Also, many schools across the country do not really give many students the option of entering apprenticeships. It is not really open to them as an option. People are discouraged and it is not really considered a viable option. Do the participants think there is a role for them as well as SOLAS in going into schools and outlining the positive experience they have had and how apprenticeships can be an attractive option? I know they might be reluctant to speak but perhaps they could give us just a sense of how diverse their ranges are. Could they tell us in just a phrase what competitions they entered and competed in?