Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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To follow up with a question arising from Deputy Ó Snodaigh's contribution, Mr. Ahern spoke about apprenticeships earlier. Apprenticeships are going to be included in the CAO from this academic year. I have spoken before about how there is a great deal of peer pressure on many students regarding what college they are going to and how many points they got. That is the focus of the talk between peers, friends, family and everybody when students are doing their leaving certificate examinations. Asking people what college they are going to and what they are hoping to do there is part of starting a conversation in this regard, but it puts huge pressure on students. I refer to situations where one person might want to do law and then another might want to be a plumber or a carpenter, which are not seen as being sexy jobs compared to what might result from some of the other academic college courses. Now that apprenticeships are part of the CAO process, will that make it easier for students to participate in apprenticeships? I ask the three witnesses for their views on this point. I call Mr. Ahern first.