Mr. Colum Farrelly:

A member asked about promoting apprenticeships in schools. In my personal experience, apprenticeships were not promoted enough and education was very college-focused. However, many people do not get on so well in school, but they are very good with their hands. It is quite hard to promote the fact that doing an apprenticeship, one can excel at a craft with one's hands, as opposed to going to college and potentially dropping out. I did not even know the WorldSkills Competition existed until a couple of years ago, and I am not really a sporting person so I never thought I would be able to represent my country. It is very important to promote the WorldSkills Competition and apprenticeships early on in schools.