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

I will briefly echo that point. One of the issues that has arisen in recent years is third-level institutions will very often set up a company at arm's length to deliver accommodation but that means they cannot cross-finance it when the company runs into financial difficulties. What ends up happening is rents go up, sometimes very significantly.

I have three fairly brief questions on the apprenticeship side of things. It was raised with me recently whether there was a course on Irish Sign Language. Is that something that is offered through apprenticeships? I am not sure where that operates.

It was suggested to me by one employer that an element of running a business-type training would be useful to those in third- and fourth-year courses, including a basic overview of pricing, overheads, tax, VAT registration and insurance.

I will touch on one of the cost issues. I take the point about the training fee, and I am not quite sure of the solution to this, but some of the exam fees are significant. It costs €1,750 for a phase 4 electrical instrumentation exam and €1,000 for phase 6. That is ultimately a fairly lucrative career, but if apprentices do not have it they do not have it. It also adds a fair bit of value for the employer. I do not know whether there are certain circumstances where a very profitable employer could pay that and, where that is not the case, perhaps SOLAS could. It is a big cost up front. There are credit union loans and so on but almost €2,000 for an exam is a big fee.