Mr. Adam Flynn:

I competed in the industrial mechanic millwright category. In Ireland, our trade is known as mechanical automation and maintenance fitting. Luckily enough, I had a brilliant engineering teacher in secondary school. Without her, I would not be here today. There was no focus whatsoever on apprenticeships other than in her class. Going into her class every week was the light at the end of the tunnel. I hated school otherwise. I had a career guidance teacher, and I could not say she was a help. Everything was focused on open days in institutes of technology and universities or on the agricultural side of things. Absolutely nothing was done to encourage people to go down the apprenticeship road. Why could they not have brought us out to industry or even to a pharmaceutical plant for an open day? There was absolutely none of that. I would like to see a greater emphasis on apprenticeships in secondary schools. If it is not driven into us when we are younger, we will not bring it with us to this kind of level. We will not get any further without somebody guiding us in the right direction. That is basically what I would like to say about it.