Mary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)

I also welcome this Bill and the fact that the Minister of State, Deputy Billy Kelleher, is present. The Minister of State, Deputy Dara Calleary, is responsible for the portfolio but I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Kelleher, would have been involved in the preparation of the legislation.

The Bill is welcome because the last piece of legislation to regulate employment agencies was in 1971 and the world has changed since then. Employment law and the people covered by it have changed and we clearly need an updated law regarding these institutions. There are many exemplary facets to the Bill.

It was as a result of the Towards 2016 discussions that this Bill was promised, and that shows good intent on behalf of the Minister of State responsible for labour affairs, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Government in ensuring that the rightful wishes of the trade unions and employers, as evidenced in this Bill, were listened to and acted upon. It showed good intent for the future of such talks.

I came in towards the end of the contribution by my constituency colleague but as far as I could gather, he was speaking about the hope that talks could reconvene and that, in particular, goodwill is still evident despite lying low at the moment. There is a well of it still there between employers, trade unions, the Government and other pillars. The talks could be revived.

I watched Vincent Browne's programme last night and it was very interesting. He asked Mr. Blair Horan about his use of the word "revisit", as Mr. Horan indicated his union wanted to revisit the 2010 budget. Speaking for myself, we should not revisit the budget. Mr. Horan stuck to his guns and argued that the parties could talk through the issues again. Mr. Kieran Mulvey of the Labour Relations Commission was on television and radio last Sunday week talking about an initiative he has taken to explore how the thoughts and outlook for talks could be kept fluid in order to avoid a truncated version of social partnership. This would avoid the bother of taking it from cold storage and revising it too late, perhaps when December dawns this year. I hope the Labour Relations Commission and this Bill will show that the Government has good intent towards those talks and will seek to bring into effect the legislative side of agreements that have been reached.

Many of these agreements are of a technical nature, and I know that Deputy Penrose speaks for his party on these matters. I am speaking as a person interested in all matters relating to employment. Anything that would regulate agencies such as that and take a more rounded approach to those it seeks to employ would be very worthwhile. I particularly liked the clause about the whistleblower. I am aware that in the past, there was much commotion about a whistleblowers' Bill, and the Government did not agree with it at the time. This is the second such Bill in which the whistleblower clause has been included. That is a very good start in bringing such an operation into legislation. A person who has information that is injurious to others within that particular system should have the chance to blow the whistle and offset other damages that may occur.

I spoke briefly about FÁS to the Minister at the parliamentary party meeting the other night. We are talking about employment legislation, and I think this topic comes under that heading. All the talk about FÁS has been about the expenses and it went on endlessly. Of course it was outrageous and I am glad the PAC and the Comptroller and Auditor General unearthed it. There is a firm promise on behalf of the board and the chairman that they will be good from now on. Such carry-on should not be allowed. However, there is a far more fundamental issue in respect of FÁS which has not been raised. We got sporadic accounts in the newspapers that a particular trainer had given a course and that there were now doubts about the training standards at that course. That all disappeared from view when the issue of the expenses was again brought up. I would be far more concerned about the need for authorisation and recognition of all the courses that have been provided across FÁS. Young people are told that the world is their oyster if they get the certification in their hands. If that certification is recognised elsewhere, that might be the case.

I do not wish to deny the great work of regular FÁS trainers and workers. I know many of them and they are fine people, but these appear to be bodies which FÁS brought in to give courses for a particular specialisation or profession. I would be very worried if there is no authoritative verification of the various courses carried out under its aegis. The holders of such certification should be able to travel the world in the belief that it entitles them to the recognition they are supposed to have.

There is a new CEO in FÁS and I met him in Mullingar to bestow certifications. I urge the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment or the Minister of State to institute a very authoritative review of all those courses over which doubts have been cast in order that the holders of certificates in those courses can be assured they have the proper qualifications. Parents have come to see me about this and it gave me a sense of unease any time I came across it. I felt something was not quite right about it, yet I saw no follow up on it.

There is a very big drop in the number of young people taking up apprenticeships. I know that an apprentice must be registered with an employer, and that is understandable as there is no other way to get the experience. I know that there was a measure last autumn whereby those who had entered into phase four were allowed to continue their course in some fashion. However, what is much more important now is the low level of numbers undertaking apprenticeships. If we are to have corners rounded and if we are to look to brighter horizons, we do not want the situation that occurred some years ago, in which we suddenly found we had no plumbers, carpenters or whatever. We need to ensure proper planning is done and I would like to see a fully fledged apprenticeship system in place again. When I was Minister of State for labour affairs, I brought in what is still called the new apprenticeship system. We ended up with a properly structured course of studies for all apprentices.

I am glad to have the opportunity to bring up these matters. They are of huge importance in the State training agency, and are of far more importance than the brouhaha that went on over matters. That has been rectified, but my concern is with the people who went on courses and were told they were getting a standardised qualification. Are they still getting it and are there any new courses? I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for allowing me latitude and the opportunity to speak on this matter.

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