Mr. Pat Twomey:

Yes. A lot more lads out of my class learned their trade on the job but would have become an apprentice if grant funding had been available. My parents were not well off by any means but put some funding together to get me by in the trade; many families could not have done that. The likes of them still went away and fell in with someone. I know from the unit behind the factory that I work in that there are lads who learned welding or fabricating on the job but they will not get the same rate as me. They could be better than me but as they do not have a bit of paper because they could not afford to go back on €250 a week or that kind of thing, then they are not going to get the same rate, which is unfortunate. They could still be in the trade 20, 30 or 40 years but they will not get the same rate as me and I was lucky enough to get a certificate.