Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Last week I asked the Tánaiste a specific question in respect of apprentices being forced to pay college fees. The Tánaiste's reply was bordering on dishonesty. The specific question I asked the Tánaiste was whether the Minister for Education and Skills would meet representatives from the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union, the union representing these workers. They are not students, they are workers. The Tánaiste avoided that question. The Tánaiste said he would meet the Union of Students in Ireland, but that is not the body representing these workers. I am asking the question again. Will the Tánaiste ensure that a meeting is organised between the Minister for Education and Skills, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the TEEU, the union representing workers who have been affected by the cuts in their fees?

This is a serious issue for these 7,500 apprentices. This is part of their training and education, something the Tánaiste should be supporting as a Minister. They are not workers who earn €750 per week. Far from it, most of them are on the minimum wage or less. They do not get paid during the college term since they are on a FÁS trainee allowance during that period and therefore they cannot afford to pay these fees. Will the Tánaiste organise a meeting with the TEEU effectively and as quickly as possible to discuss seriously the reinstating of these college fees, pending the major question he raised last week about the Minister for Education and Skills looking down the road at apprentices being broadened out and so on?

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