Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin (Wicklow-Wexford, Sinn Fein)

I thank the witnesses. Everything they said has been very informative. I missed the beginning of the meeting. I am very interested in this area. I was on WWETB for ten years and I was teaching for 35 years before I started this thing. I see the numbers of apprenticeships have increased. One figure indicated we have 77 and another suggested it was 88. Ten years ago, I attended an event on apprenticeships in Brussels. I believe Germany had over 300 and they were covering areas such as banking and all sorts of areas that we have not even touched upon. Traditionally, we have had an emphasis on crafts. In many ways Irish people have looked down their noses at apprenticeships in favour of colleges and universities. There may have been an element of snobbery in recent decades. It has led to a huge crisis because we are missing very basic services such as bus drivers. We cannot solve the ongoing problems with school transport, which is a big issue in my area of north Wexford and south Wicklow, a rural area. We cannot do it without bus drivers. I know that WWETB had previously engaged with Bus Éireann on that. Do the witnesses have any plans for training bus drivers because there is a huge crisis and a huge need there. WWETB identified it but it met barriers on it.

As mentioned previously, Ireland is crying out for plumbers and carpenters but we cannot get them. We are going back to basics. Some 30 or 40 years ago, we said this was a great apprenticeship to go into and now we cannot find them. Obviously there need to be incentives for employers to take them on. I think one in three apprentices in the crafts area said they had difficulty finding an employer. As my colleague Deputy McGettigan said earlier, the issue of proper payment for apprentices has come up. I have spoken to apprentices who have said that the payment is a big problem, especially with the cost-of-living crisis. Those payments definitely need to be increased. Can we work with Bus Éireann and the ETBs locally?

I welcome the commitment in the document to make apprenticeships more inclusive. Just over a week ago I had a meeting with St. Aidan's disability services, which serves the Gorey area in north Wexford and south Wicklow. I know some of the witnesses are aware of the group. It is a centre that covers intellectual disabilities as well as physical disabilities. Trainees attending the services said it was not just a case of numeracy and literacy but they wanted more basic training in life skills to pare it back to the basics of living. The number of people in Wexford and Wicklow suffering from disabilities is quite shocking. Those young trainees in St. Aidan's services have asked if there could be very basic life skills training as an apprenticeship. They need to have it locally because obviously travel is a huge problem for them. Are there any plans in Wexford or Wicklow for such services for life skill training for those with intellectual disabilities as well as for others?