Anne Rabbitte (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the witnesses for being here this afternoon. It is one thing reading it, but when you hear it said, it is stark. I totally agree with the witnesses about the dormant funding. That needs to happen to bring stability. Dormant funding is for either 18 months or three years. It needs to be put on a permanent footing. If the committee is making recommendations, one should be that we need sustainability around what the witnesses are doing to support it. I was just saying to Deputy Connolly as Ms Kelly was speaking that what the witnesses are presenting here this morning is no different to the disabled community who are trying to find access or a pathway to work. What the witnesses are saying is frustrating.

Regarding the apprenticeship programme, I know a young man in Galway, Ian McDonagh, who was doing embalming. He could not get a sponsor. He struggled to get one and in the end, he has had to get up at 5 a.m. every morning to travel to Dublin to achieve what is required. He could get nobody. It is amazing to think that, with all of our undertakers across the country, he could get no sponsor and had to travel all the way to Dublin to access that support and get it across the line. That is not balanced.

The State has the biggest role to play. The HSE and public service have the biggest role. They are our largest employers. Sometimes you have to lead by example to encourage others to come on board. I can understand employers, if they do not see it happening in State agencies. We have to be able to show what it looks like, how it is delivered and how it is supported by the State. We are continuously looking for staff, whether for the maintenance of our hospitals, our level 3s or level 4s, or our healthcare assistants. I cannot for the life of me understand why it is not happening that way. Maybe that is a dialogue which we as a committee have to work on collectively to open that pathway for apprenticeship programmes. Fair play to Jim Meade in Iarnród Éireann for leading by example, but we need the HSE to do exactly that. You cannot have 300 people who have expressed an interest who cannot get an opportunity to develop or shine. We are restricting people, particularly when there are 70 apprenticeships which they are queueing up for.

I remember meeting Garda Superintendent Ollie Baker in Ballinasloe. He says he has no problem in supporting young people into apprenticeships where they cannot get them, if that person needs that chance. That is out of the Ballinasloe youth work services. There is collective responsibility. It is great to see it is being done in Limerick, but I would have thought all technological universities and education and training boards would have that responsibility and should be collectively supporting it, and it should not be hit and miss. Is that what Ms Kelly is experiencing?