Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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By and large, apprenticeships have historically been in the construction sector and, through CERT, in the hospitality sector. There is now an evolution taking place in the broader labour market in terms of provision of apprenticeships. Why did it take so long for us to accept the need for industry to get involved in educating its own workforce? That is essentially what apprenticeship is about. It is about developing skill sets allowing employees to progress through a sector. Dr. Keogh made reference to the cost involved. If it is prohibitive or at least expensive to take on an apprentice or develop an apprenticeship course, what can we do to offset that? Would tax reliefs or something else incentivise people? Did Dr. Keogh say there were 80,000 employees in her sector?