Dee Ryan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their contributions. It was very interesting and they have given us a lot to contemplate. There is a lot of common sense being spoken and strong, informed, evidence-based suggestions that we will be able to take into our deliberations in the work we do in the coming months. What is really striking for me is that we have a common goal of addressing the skills needs within our economy and ensuring that people are given an opportunity to go into vibrant careers and to thrive in their own right. In supporting apprenticeships, we are also supporting differentiated ways of accessing learning. I was struck by Mr. Nolan's comment that he was encouraged not to go for university and go into an apprenticeship by virtue of his socioeconomic circumstances. The same is probably true on the other side, whereby children from other backgrounds might be pushed towards university when it is not the right place for them at all. For many of our brightest young people, being confined to an academic setting is absolutely wrong for them and should not be where they are funnelled through. I thank the witnesses for giving us their time this morning to talk about apprenticeships. In my view and in the Government's view, they are absolutely critical to the economic development of the country and for a significant cohort of people in their own personal development.

I take on board all the points that have been made about minimum wage, abolition of the apprenticeship student charge and the accommodation allowance. Those are all things we will have to look at over the coming years. Hopefully we can remove as many of those financial obstacles as possible. I would just like to acknowledge that the Minister has this week in the budget given a record amount of funding to apprenticeships. He committed €79 million of investment in apprentices. It is indicative of the support and the direction of travel we would like to go in. Would either Mr. Nolan or Mr. Friel like to say a little more about the student experience of the consortium model? We have been given a little flavour of it on campus. Within the workplace, are there variances in how it is structured and how students are being treated across the different areas they are studying and across the different workplaces?