Mr. Seamus Hoyne:

That figure of 10,000 was based on analysis done by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, SOLAS and others. The spread of those apprenticeships is important. We have significant capacity ongoing in terms of electricians who are very important in terms of the electrification of the grid but we also need to increase the quantum of apprenticeships in the plumbing field because we are talking about changing out heating systems in 500,000 homes and installing heat pumps in a large number of new buildings.

We also potentially have, apart from apprenticeships, other opportunities for education and development in terms of existing craftworkers - electricians, plumbers and plasterers - who can take the roles of retrofit co-ordinators. They will then start to ply the expertise that they have built over five or ten years as expert craftspeople to become site managers, site leaders and retrofit co-ordinators. That builds a career pathway. That is part of the messaging that we need to get across, coming back to my earlier point, that the image of the apprenticeship or the craftworker has to change. Previously, going into a craft or a trade, one potentially saw it becoming a dead end for a number of years. We now have many development opportunities for those people who may wish to progress their careers. Having served their time as an apprentice and worked as a plumber or electrician, now they can become site managers or expert retrofit co-ordinators. It is important that we develop that pipeline of progression pathways and part of our work certainly is working with the further education sector to see how we develop those pathways.