Dr. Mary-Liz Trant:

We know it will be challenging. We will need many more apprentices to come through and we may need to look at other ways of getting the talent as well. Work is being done - it is close to being finalised - to examine what we have, what the demand and the gap will be and what we will need to do to fill it. There were more than 8,600 registrations last year, the majority of which, or almost 7,000, were in construction. The pipeline is strong and growing and is at its highest level since 2009. There is a good baseline but our sense of it, without having seen the data and the analysis, is that it will have to be increased significantly.

We have the education and training boards on standby, and the technological universities as well. All the indications are that the education system is ready to step up and provide the investment, the capital, the workshops and the instructors, and it is up to the industry side to take on apprentices, employ them and get those numbers through.