Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I welcome Mr. Davitt and the group represented before the committee. The initiative it has enacted is exciting and I hope and I am confident that it will go from strength to strength.

At third level it often goes in cycles and people tend to move into whatever sector is going well. The deputation will remember the dot coms in the early 2000s and the number of people who got involved in that area. We then had a boom in the construction, engineering and architecture sectors. It is certainly a good initiative that the programme will allow companies with real job opportunities to become involved and, in turn, provide training.

I wish to comment on what the deputation states is the experience of the third level sector and the flaws within it. Let us compare this country with Germany which is a powerhouse in manufacturing.

Germany has more apprenticeships, uses a model of on the job training and gives people the skills to face life's challenges and work.

Earlier it was alluded to that the number of vacancies has increased but the 7,000 figure is stuck in my head. I thought there was 7,000 job opportunities in this country three years ago that could not be filled by Irish graduates. Have some of those jobs been filled? Is the delegation confident that new jobs will come on stream?