Ms Holly Clyde:

I promise I will make this quick. Senator Black talked about youth apprentices and why young people are not going into apprenticeships. I believe it is because of a lack of awareness. Apprenticeships are now becoming a more popular pathway but it is hard because many employers look for experience. At 16, you have just written your CV and are delighted when handing it in, but where is your experience? You will not have had time to get any; you will just have a national insurance number. The youth apprentice roles provide a different pathway, giving education while learning. They are vital. It is hard because young people may have to break a generational cycle in order to go down the apprentice road. They may have been brought up in a household where you go into education, get further education and then go into full-time employment, where you stay until retirement. However, there are so many other pathways available nowadays.

Touching on the point on identity, in Belfast you are born into a community. It is very hard to look outside it because you have everything you need at your doorstep. Some young people growing up think their community is the world and that there is nothing else outside that. They ask why they would want to leave their community. Therefore, it is a matter of breaking the generational cycle and understanding your own identity by taking a step outside the community.