Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As I stated to Deputy Troy, work is ongoing on the policy but I do not have a date.

On apprenticeships, Deputy Durkan may be aware that the apprenticeship council has been constituted under the chairmanship of the CEO of the ESB. Happily, the ESB, Irish Rail and, more recently, Eircom and other large companies have begun to advertise a significant number of new apprenticeships. These have been strongly supported in terms of applications. I do not have a date for the apprenticeship Bill itself. I anticipate that the mediation Bill will be introduced later this year.

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