Mr. Tom Grady:

The Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim ETB is a co-ordinating provider for three new apprenticeships and we have three or four more in development. Sales, digital marketing and craft butchery apprenticeships are three that will have been running since 2019 in steps in between. Our experience has been that it varies, like Dr. Trant has said, because the apprenticeships are consortia-led so inherently they are in an occupational area and those areas vary very much. For example, craft butchery is very much a niche area yet it is a vibrant area in the food industry nationally. We have a number of collaborating ETBs now involved in providing the course. While there may never be huge numbers, it is very steady and successful. By comparison, sales has the potential to be an apprenticeship with really big numbers. For example, there is the automotive industry. In car dealerships, there has never been an apprenticeship for salespeople in the car industry yet for years, the auto technicians in the background in garages have been qualified craft apprentices for years. The development time varies. It varies with the consortia and the amount of different stakeholders. Generally, when it gets to the national apprenticeship office, the process is improving all the time and I think it would be fair to say that the steps we go through there are becoming more consistent. In general, it takes a couple of years.