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

I am pleased Deputy Byrne is supportive of the new team and the work we will be doing in this Department. I believe the two briefs are important. I have a strong belief that we have neglected apprenticeships and traineeships and the associated skills. We are seeing new opportunities regionally and nationally to strengthen the skills offering. That is why we have regional skills councils. Equally, higher education is going to be central to regional development and to innovation as part of the agenda. Deputy Byrne will be pleased to see that we will be working as an effective team to try to respond to the challenges, which are considerable in this brief.

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