Mr. Gerard Smith:

I will have a light go at this. The mechanism for the leaving certificate stands and it is internationally recognised. It is never questioned by employers, third level institutions or anyone. Since I have joined the LMETB and the institution, I have seen there is variation in how different apprenticeship or training outlets are managed and governed. I am not saying we should completely dismantle it but there is an opportunity to continuously improve and bring rigour at a national level to that outcome.

There is too much effort and energy put into upskilling people to then have a question over output. There was an article about this yesterday. Green skills have been mentioned. The article stated 98% of houses retrofitted for external insulation in the UK feature poor-quality workmanship.

That does not mean the students were not taught properly or how to do it properly, but there has been a lapse in the quality governance of that. It would be poor if we lost that integrity, given the effort and energy that goes into upskilling people. If there was more centralisation or more rigour around that so levels were set across, that would help.