Mr. Ray English:

There are several things. There is a co-ordinated campaign through the national apprenticeship office and the work done by World Skills Ireland. The visibility of that campaign is important. It comes back to the Senator's earlier point. For us, it is a matter of resources. I am sure the committee hears that all the time. Mr. Hourihan and I, along with Mr. O'Halloran and Mr. Keys in the Gallery, make up the executive of World Skills Ireland and we all do this on a voluntary basis, as do all the examiners. Resource allocation really needs to be considered. It is about that funding allocation. The Senator is aware of what it was. It has not increased since 2019.

We have to grow the range of activities to engage people, such as using the champions we have available to go to schools. That is what that is about. It is about that connection. Ms Yeates is absolutely correct. It needs to happen much earlier. The information needs to be provided much earlier. We are trying to target transition year. It is that lag time. That is where we will make a difference.

It is about equity of skills and presenting all the skills together. It makes no difference to us whether a person is in digital construction or a bricklayer. We cover them all, from level 5 right through to level 8. That equity that one can be what one wants to be is really important. Promoting that to parents is key.

We are working on our next advertising campaign for the competition in October. It aims to encourage parents to come along, engage with the companies who will be advertising there and see what are the career opportunities. They can engage with the educators. Seeing the link between education and one's day-to-day career, and to where that can bring one, is key.