Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. I have a few questions and observations also. On SOLAS, has the increase in the national training fund resulted in more vocal feedback and involvement from employers in respect of training needs? As was stated, the 2020 target for apprenticeship registrations is 31,000 and currently only half of that number are registered. What is SOLAS planning to do to meet the target? The take-up of new apprenticeship opportunities by employers has been slower than envisaged, which is a problem that has to be addressed. What ideas does SOLAS have in that regard? I agree with my colleague on the age that a young person starts engaging in terms of looking at their career path. Fifth year is definitely too late.

I am hosting a public meeting tonight in Newbridge on career options for young people. Megan Yeates, the young lady who won the gold medal for freight forwarding, will be speaking at it. Schools from all around Kildare are coming to. Like my colleague, I felt she was such an ambassador for skills. I engaged with her after that meeting and she said she would be willing to talk to schools. I am really looking forward to hearing her again. I have somebody speaking about apprenticeships and a career guidance teacher as well.

Ms Dooley was talking about the lack of engagement with industry. How is she proposing to reinstate that engagement? Is her organisation consulted on plans with State organisations such as SOLAS in terms of moving them forward? Ms Dooley mentioned that she was surprised at some of the criticism. Very genuinely as a committee, the engagement we had was very clear and was not isolated, so we felt it was important to address it, not to hide behind it. Ms Dooley was talking also about working together to facilitate a space where qualified apprentices can describe their positive experiences directly to parents. That is very important and it is something I am hoping for tonight because it is for parents as well as for the young people, the students from transition year and up. There is an onus on schools and career guidance teachers to do that. To be fair, many of them are. Coincidentally, I was in a school in Newbridge, the Patrician secondary school, for a different reason two weeks ago. There was a trade fair there and there was quite an emphasis on apprenticeships, which was really good. Sometimes I get the sense that it is down to the individual career guidance teacher to show leadership on that. Certainly, when we were discussing this as a committee, we felt that there needed to be a more co-ordinated national response.