Ms Caitríona Murphy:

I will come in on one or two of the Deputy’s queries and will reply to Deputy Connolly as well. First, on healthcare assistants, the level 5 programme in Cavan Institute is run throughout a number of ETBs. It is an excellent programme. It is at level 5, and palliative care is included. It is an extremely effective programme. It is there and it is run in many locations. The apprenticeship model was a way to look at how we could increase that, and that still should be looked at because there is an opportunity there. It is an excellent programme; the Deputy is absolutely right. With regard to Youthreach, there are 31 schools in my own location and it is similar in other areas throughout the country, including many DEIS schools, but there are also ten Youthreach centres and three community training centres all under the Youthreach programme. We specifically run a targeted approach for the graduates and those in training in Youthreach to help them with their decisions on how to navigate the pathway into an apprenticeship or further education and training.

That is something we do in our own region and I gave a few examples of it earlier. It is probably replicated in all ETBs, I have no doubt, in Cavan, Monaghan, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim, Waterford and Wexford as well. We assist with the progress because many of those young people will have a major award at level 4 and they are ready to take the step to level 5 or level 6 and beyond, and to keep going. It is something we do and we have lots of examples of that and how we do it. We also assist with pre-apprenticeship to help people going from Youthreach into pre-apprenticeship at level 5 in our colleges or training centres and then they can decide which is the right step for them in terms of apprenticeship. We do that and it is important.

On the colleges of further education and training, the demand for apprenticeships at different levels is co-ordinated by the College of Further Education and Training in Dublin in the three county council areas that I represent and cover. Apprenticeship is an absolute cornerstone, along with all of the other part-time and full-time provision. On the question of involvement with Northern Ireland, I will hand over to Dr. Trant.