Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has raised a number of issues. With regard to guidance counselling, 66% of the guidance provision will be back in place by this coming September. It is hoped this will equip young people to make better choices. The Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, has outlined the ambition to treble the number of places on apprenticeships and traineeships over the next four years. This would represent about 20% of the cohort which would have the option of going to an apprenticeship or a traineeship. This would be a dramatic change in the range of options available to young people. Deputy Nolan is right that we also need to look at the role of industry as well as the role of the education sector, and this is why building links between education and industry is very important. We could bring to bear much more information about what jobs are really like in modern enterprise sectors today and we could give young people access to that information during transition year and at other opportunities. One of the things I am hoping to work through the regional fora is getting enterprise more actively involved in that practical guidance.

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