John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

There was one or two things that were not answered after my previous contribution. We do not have data on those who do not find an employer. We do not know how many young people seek an employer for an apprenticeship and do not find one. If we had some way of gathering that information, it would be helpful. Are we confident that we can get to the 10,000 figure that is in the existing plan, in light of the recent commentary and uncertainty about existing funding and funding into the future? Will there be a challenge regarding the staff that our guests' organisations need in terms of tutors and teachers?

Going back to the public sector point, I should have said that the existing plan had an objective to undertake an assessment of skills needs by quarter 1 of 2022, which was to inform a sector-wide apprenticeship recruitment plan for delivery by quarter 3 of 2022. That was specific to the public sector. I gather that did not happen, or maybe it did. We should possibly do that before we develop the new plan. I am not sure if that is our guests' remit but it should be looked at.

I welcome Ms Murphy's point about authorised officers. In the new plan, that role should be extended and should include measures to ensure that the standards they deserve are adhered to in the employment they work in. In fairness to the employees, we need some mechanism to get feedback from them. Perhaps we have something already. Mr. Grady spoke about the life skills end. A number of people have made this point. The education system is really important for developing skills but also for developing people. Maybe we could hear a bit more about that.