Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Has the national apprentice office actually been set up? Has it been resourced? If so, when was it set up? Please can the Minister of State confirm that? What is the plan to deal with the existing waiting list of 10,000 people? There are huge implications here for the apprentice’s money and educational pathways. I have the privilege of coming from a large family. We had a variation of vocations and jobs in our house. I know exactly the value of this. The problem with different governments was that they did not value apprentices. They did not value the trades. They put an emphasis on information technology. While that was good, it was to the detriment of trades. I have abhorred that all my life. Hopefully, this will now change, but I am a little bit doubtful as to the urgency of the Government’s reaction. Of course, we are dependent on employers, but we need leadership from the Government to value the trades, to put them on a level that is appropriate and to fund them.

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