Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all our guests. I may not have been in the room but I was listening upstairs in my office on the television so I have been following most of the debate. I will start with the four former apprentices in regard to their experience of the apprenticeships they did. My brother did an apprenticeship and he is a fabricator. I heard what he thought of it most days of the week. He also did in MTU, which was then Cork Institute of Technology. He did his placement too. I know his views but I am interested to know what the witnesses’ experience of it was in regard to the stipend or allowance that is provided. Is that enough for apprentices to get by on? Did the witnesses need to take out student loans? Did they have to depend on family or what way did it work out?