Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this important motion which aims to highlight the need to be more imaginative in how we approach apprenticeships and the broader labour market. There is no doubt that skills shortages are a significant constraint in an expanding economy that has enormous infrastructural deficits. Such deficits include not just major infrastructural projects, but housebuilding, childcare provision and educational facilities. Apprenticeship schemes are critically important for the individuals involved as well as for the economy, particularly one that is expanding. We must be creative in attracting young people into apprenticeship schemes so that they see them as a stepping stone and not just an end in and of themselves. We must make it clear that people can embark on an apprenticeship and then go on to third level or other further education at a later stage if they so wish. This is particularly important in the context of the so-called wet trades, for example, in the construction sector. We must accept that as people age, their ability or willingness to continue plastering while up on a scaffold, for example, will diminish. In that context, we must be creative in terms of moving people out of those very physically demanding apprenticeships into other forms of training and education to further their careers. We need to demonstrate to people that there is a pathway in and a pathway out.

This motion is timely and is designed to stimulate debate. There is a real need to foster the concept of apprenticeships being a viable career pathway that can benefit individuals and society at large. Apprenticeships can fill the infrastructural gaps in terms of housebuilding, childcare, educational facilities and so on.

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