Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

What are the targets for September in terms of what will be done over the summer? This week I was contacted by a young man from Mayo working as an apprentice plumber. He has not been able to access the phase 4 training in his apprenticeship. This means he will possibly be stuck on apprenticeship wages longer than the four years it should take. No other cohort of students are treated in this way and apprentices should not be undervalued. It gives completely the wrong message. We want to attract people to apprenticeships, to do all-Ireland apprenticeships, and to create equity and parity in apprenticeships, and the way we are dealing with this is not good enough. What are the Department's targets for September? What will that 10,000 look like then? What will it look like in October? Apprentices need assurance here and now. They need to get on with their lives, learning, training and earning. We need to facilitate them in that with equity and fairness.

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