Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy. The composition of the apprenticeship council has been got right. There is a good blend of all the talents on the council. A number of people on the council will have insights into enterprise. They will work alongside representatives of unions and providers, etc. We have the right balance there. I am confident that as a result of all the new reforms and structures - I refer, for example, to the apprenticeship council, SOLAS, the five-year plans and the annual service-level agreements with the education and training boards - the right system is now in place to make this happen. If enterprise is involved in planning and ongoing engagement from an early stage, as Deputy O'Brien has suggested, our predictions should be right and we should no longer be behind the curve from a skills perspective. It is likely that other initiatives will come through from the apprenticeship council model and the call for proposals. Such initiatives might be better suited to a traineeship or some other scheme. We can design and work on that. It is about trying to find out exactly what is needed. We have a fair idea from the work that is going on at the moment. We need to get in the firm proposals. If they are better suited to a different scheme, we will have to tailor them as appropriate. I hope there will be a great deal of interest in this. I hope all the players who have shown an interest in it over the last couple of months will follow through.

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