Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like my colleagues, I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion brought forward by Deputy Thomas Byrne. As Deputy Michael Moynihan said, we need to promote apprenticeships, which are of massive value to the economy and to the people doing the apprenticeships, who have the chance of progressing to have their own business. One of the ways this can be promoted better is through career guidance in second level schools. It should become a priority in career guidance to promote the whole ethos behind apprenticeships, how people can benefit from them and what they are about.

There is major need for apprenticeships in the construction sector, for example, in carpentry, plumbing, electrics and bricklaying, but this is also the case in other sectors. I come from Kildare North, where the food sector is massive, and it would benefit greatly from the enhancement of apprenticeship schemes. IT companies like Hewlett Packard and Intel would also benefit from such schemes if they were properly rolled out and put in place. Employers can benefit and there are advantages to them through the apprenticeship schemes. We need to be more creative, however, in terms of having financial initiatives for apprentices. We could tie that back in so that when people qualify in whatever profession they pursue, they would have committed to give back to the State, say, three years in that profession as a payback for the financial incentive they would get for doing the apprenticeship in the first place. This might be worth exploring.

The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection can also play a major role with people on jobseeker's payments in terms of encouraging them towards apprenticeships. Not everybody is for the academic route. People benefit from dual learning and some who learn from both the academic route as well as practical experience can learn easier and quicker, and can retain the information and can then become better qualified as a result. That is where we need to focus and show initiative.

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