Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all of the speakers here today. It is great to have champions for apprenticeship programmes here, because that is what we want to see. We want people to be champions who will encourage and show many other students coming into the leaving certificate that there are other options out there.

I come from Ballinasloe and I represent Roscommon and Galway. Yesterday, I was at the Galway and Roscommon Education and Training Board open day. All of the tutors were there. There were girls and people of all ages coming in, including people in their 30s and 40s, looking to do different courses. They were not just school leavers. Lifelong learning is very important, so I might ask Mr. Hourihan for a couple of comments on that.

Something that happened there really struck me. One of the girls who came in was a non-national who was doing her leaving certificate. I think she was under a lot of stress and pressure. She just said that she felt she came in with no hope, and after a half an hour talking with tutors and trainers there, she left with hope. There was a smile on her face. She wanted to do a particular qualification and if she could not get it through the points system, there would be another opportunity to do it through further education or apprenticeships. There is that sense of hope that the apprenticeship programme has to give.

With regard to World Skills Ireland, I have a few comments and questions for Mr. Hourihan and Mr. English on lifelong learning. Potentially, how do we encourage people at different age groups to consider apprenticeships or changing careers? What do we need to do on that? It was referenced in the opening statement as well. I think they have also probably spoken before about other European countries, in particular their apprenticeship uptakes. We heard last year from Norway, and I know Germany has a very high uptake of apprenticeships as well. What do they do that we do not? They spoke to us, but is there something simple we can do?

My next question relates to the buildings. In Fine Gael, we have been looking at how we use school buildings and how they can be used after school hours. We look at how we use premises in regional areas. For example, ETBs across the country sometimes have further education colleges that will not be in use potentially over the summer months until they start up their courses again in September. How are we working with our ETBs and our TUs to make the most of existing buildings? I understand that everybody always wants new buildings. That is the number one request. However, there are existing buildings there. When it comes to being able to develop and deliver classes, is there a way we can look at existing buildings and how we are working with the ETBs, which I think are quite integrated now with the TUs as well?

I have a few questions for our champions as well. I think Mr. McSherry is the competitor on the bricklaying side. Is that correct? When I promote apprenticeships, I get to hear from people. When I was getting the car washed, which is a treat, a guy came in behind me who was getting his car done too. He told me he was working on 40 housing units that are getting built in town. As I was chatting to him, he mentioned that he had met me before. He was from one of the villages in east Galway. I asked him if he had been in the leaving certificate class because I remembered he had been at that school, and he said he had been. I asked him if he was working now - it was only two or three years later - and he told me he had joined the apprentice programme and was doing plastering. I told him that was amazing and asked him why he thought we did not see more people doing it. He spoke about the hard work and everything else. He was a young guy. He said he did not know. I asked him if other people knew he had a nice car. It was his pride and joy. I ask Mr. McSherry how he tackles that when it is put back on the younger generation that it is not the same as 20 or 30 years ago. How do we combat that sort of narrative?

I ask the rest of our guests if they have any comments. There is a story that we have to tell about what apprenticeships are. We can see how successful they are in places such as Germany and Norway.

What is it we need to do as public representatives? How do we engage with the World Skills Ireland champions or similar organisations like that to promote the apprenticeship programme?