Mr. Phil Flaherty:

On the three issues, when the minimum period of apprenticeship was set - Dr. Rigney mentioned the recommendation that we should not adopt the UK model - it was sending a fairly strong signal that those short periods of training that are entitled to apprenticeships - perhaps developing relatively low skills - was not the direction that Ireland wanted to go, that we saw it as a sustained period no shorter than two years, and it was a minimum. It was not a recommendation that there be a reduction to two years.
The point with regard to duration - this speaks to the review of the curriculum and the existing apprenticeships - is that it must be led by the learning outcomes that are required in order to undertake the occupation. It depends on how complex they are, how long it takes to embed those skills, and how long one needs to spend on the job and off the job. That is the key determinant of how long an apprenticeship would be. Because the group adopted a view of apprenticeship as being deep, sustained and leading to autonomous and competent workers, it recommended that the period should not fall below two years, but that is very much a floor, not a target.
On the short versus longer block release, without getting too technical about this, the annual student contribution is currently €2,500. That is what one pays. It is increasing to €2,750 for 2014-15. Typically, apprentices are taken in in three 10- or 11-week blocks during the year, which roughly equate to the three academic terms, and they pay one third of that figure. Therefore, it is pro rata. As the Chairman correctly stated, there are some apprenticeships which involve longer periods in the institutions - for example, for those studying electrical instrumentation on aircraft, where the blocks are longer. In those cases, the pro ratafee is different. If their block release is longer, they pay more. It is a greater percentage of the annual amount. That is probably not welcomed by those apprentices, but it is equitable insofar as it is based on how long one spends in the institution.
On the question of consultation with the institutes of technology-----