Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his opening statement. The focus on higher and further education is welcome in terms of the three-year strategy but I want to focus on the apprenticeship element of it. For too long, apprenticeships have been at the back of the class when it comes to further education and skills. We in the Labour Party welcome the light the Minister is shining on it and the position in which he is putting apprenticeships in the firmament of further education and skills. That is vital because this country has a proud of tradition of strong apprenticeships. Our craft apprenticeship system, for example, is the envy of many countries around the world not only in terms of its traditions but also the way in which those apprenticeships and the modules have evolved over years and how our workers who emerge from those are among the highest skilled, if not the highest skilled, throughout the world in terms of crafts.

In looking at the language of the Minister's three-year strategy in terms of a complete overhaul of apprenticeships, I would like a commitment from him that while we need to examine, improve and broaden apprenticeships, the ones that are working well and are the envy of the world will be protected and honoured in the new system and that we will not be undoing the great work that has evolved over decades in terms of those apprenticeships.

We need to look at employers that traditionally have been very strong in providing apprenticeships. I think of our airports and skilled apprenticeships in terms of aircraft maintenance and so on. We need to look at our local authorities, which have been hollowed out in terms of providing apprenticeships across a whole range of crafts and skills. That has to be reversed because if we are to meet our climate targets, one of the low-hanging fruits being the retrofitting of our homes, our local authorities and skilled workers within them will have to play their part. We need to be focusing our apprenticeships on that area.

We need to look also at what the trade union movement has done in this area over the years. In terms of the Minister's action plan for apprenticeships, what role are the trade unions playing as a stakeholder in this regard? I hope it is a strong one and that they are recognised specifically in that document as trade unions and that they will be a real part of that because they have done a great deal of the heavy lifting over the years in this country to keep apprenticeships strong. I would like to hear the Minister's thoughts on that.

I want to speak to a specific area that is looking for some recognition and I would like the Minister's advice on it. It concerns workers who operate in the water and drainage systems. These are workers who currently have no recognition from the State in terms of any level of qualification, be it FETAC levels 5 or 6, Look Beyond or anything else. That is important work. It is skilled work. It requires knowledge of pumping, sewerage and pipe systems. It requires plumbing and electrical knowledge. It requires critical thinking and, ultimately, it requires problem solving skills. However, although domestic properties, people in business or hospitals would not be able to operate without having those skilled water and drainage companies and workers, at present they are not recognised. I have written to SOLAS on this in the past week hoping that we could develop some form or model of apprenticeship that would befit these workers. They work in every county in the State. They need and deserve recognition. As citizens, we need them as much as we need any other workers in this country, and we do not need to go into detail as to why that is the case, but it certainly is the case. I look forward to the Minister's response on those two issues.

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