Dr. Peter Rigney:

On employers and specific wage rates, we have no direct information as of yet from trade unions on what is happening, beyond whispers. Whispers are only rumours and not worthy of being repeated. If they were to be substantiated, we will take the matter to another place, the enforcement arm of the State. There are plenty of employers who want to pay their employees good wages and give them decent conditions and who are happy to develop learning paths for them. Tá dhá insint ar an scéal.

As I have not seen IDA Ireland's submission, I am not sure what is meant by alignment. The traditional level 6 apprenticeships are delivered in a mix by the ETBs in the old FÁS training centres. Whatever about the bad reputation FÁS had, it certainly was not drawn on it by its apprenticeship system which was pretty good, as the international apprenticeship awards show. The other modules were delivered in the institutes of technology. There should be no reason it cannot continue. If one considers the reply to a parliamentary question, tabled, I believe, by Deputy Kelleher, on the range of new apprenticeships, one will note that the institutes of technology have a strong role in many cases. In some of them where traditionally there would have been 80 apprentices in a class in September, that number would have dropped to 30 or 40 by the following June. Classes will be swapped to have, say, a consistent level of 60 apprentices right the way through in block releases. From the teachers' perspective, they will probably be dealing with a more mature and engaged class. Does that answer the Senator's question?