Ms Bridget Kelly:

In fairness to the education and training boards, they do a lot of good work and have many good courses. I want to acknowledge that.

What we are finding, though, is that there are not enough pre-apprenticeship or apprenticeship programmes available to the community. Even where there are pre-apprenticeship programmes, there is a set number. This does not meet the community need. Therefore, more pre-apprenticeship programmes and, in particular, more apprenticeship opportunities need to be made available. Travellers need to be prioritised and more courses need to be created. There is sufficient demand.

We have noticed, in respect of the further education and training strategy, that the uptake of Travellers by ETBs is not great. We have flagged this with the ETBs and SOLAS. They need to focus on it more and link in with the local Traveller organisations. Better engagement with us is needed to help to increase the number of Travellers engaging with the ETBs. When that work is done with us and the relevant organisations, there will be more engagement from Travellers with courses. However, those courses need to be provided.

We are also doing work with TU Dublin. In fairness, it is doing a lot of work. We have had much communication with it, particularly on trade days. We are linking in with the access and Roma worker, Annmarie Mc Donagh, whom it is important to mention, along with Dr. Aidan Kenny, the apprenticeship officer. While we are doing a lot of work with TU Dublin, it represents only some of what needs to be done. It needs to be broader, involving all the institutions.

On what was said about Ian McDonagh, we are dealing daily with community members who have a similar experience. We even have the parents on the phone. I was just staying to Mr. Joyce this morning that I had a parent on the phone who has been trying to get his son into an into an apprenticeship for the past year. We are supporting them, trying our best to get an apprenticeship for the young man. The parent said he has worked himself, has done all the various courses, is trying to encourage his young lad to take up a job and is telling him to apply, yet he cannot get an employer on board. He could see the decline in his son in this regard.