Ms Claire McGee:

I fully agree with Deputy Bruton's assertion that we should be ensuring we are investing well in the programmes that are successful. Skillnet Ireland and Springboard probably have a 20% approval rate for their programmes but they are not being funded, yet we have this scale of investment in the National Training Fund. That leads me to believe we are under-serving these programmes. We should ensure the spending gap of €120 million does not continue and we must not add to it.

IBEC has been upfront and committed to the concept of apprenticeships. At the early stages, in 2016 and 2017 when the initial consortia were being convened, we hosted a number of roundtable discussions to facilitate the idea. However, the costs we have outlined will continue to be borne by companies. IBEC shouldered other development costs in the past to enable some of those discussions to take place but we are now beyond the infant discussions and moving into a greater level of maturity. We will continue to be an honest broker in discussions around apprenticeships and we are proud to be able to do so. We have done some positive work and service around that. However, we still need more employers to come to the table. For example, apprenticeships are in the DNA of the ESB. That is how it grows much of its future workforce. If we want other companies to do the same, we must be able to support companies to be able to make the change from their current hiring practices to a new practice around apprenticeships. I would like to see much more money being targeted at employers and incentivising their uptake. I hope that addresses the Deputy's question.