John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I do not have many questions for the Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre of Excellence, save to say it seems the kind of response we would like to see from State agencies, in the sense that where there is a gap recognised through data and research, some State authority takes it on itself to fill that gap.

I concur with the sentiment of Deputy Smith. The centre has been going since 2021 but other ETBs have not replicated the model. I do not want to be overly critical there because some of them might be offering some of the same programmes the centre is. It is doing it in a co-ordinated manner, however, and it seems the centre's success shows that others should be doing that as well. That is just a comment.

My questions are mainly for Ms Boland and Dr. Murray on QQI. I will go back to Senator Ryan's question about the process of accreditation. On co-ordinating providers, do we have data on exactly who applies? How many are ETBs? Straying outside apprenticeships and the whole area of QQI in terms of course provision, who is applying for courses to be validated?