Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I return to an issue I previously raised with the Taoiseach, namely, the delays in completing apprenticeships. During the Covid response, the SOLAS block was postponed and delayed, which led to a huge backlog and waiting list for apprentices. The Taoiseach told me last September that there would be considerable Government investment, and I take it that there has been. SOLAS has confirmed to me that it is working at full capacity. The problem is that full capacity is inadequate to clear the backlog. It is like saying the University of Limerick is working at full capacity so what is the problem. The problem is that full capacity is inadequate.

There are still huge delays in completing electrical, plumbing and carpentry and joinery apprenticeships. All of those are important skills for the very ambitious plans of the Taoiseach's colleagues, the Ministers, Deputies Darragh O'Brien and Eamon Ryan, for retrofitting. We need to get people into these areas as quickly as possible, and get as many people as possible into them. We are not achieving that. We are at full capacity but the waiting lists remain unchanged.

I received an email from a constituent about his son. He is two years into an apprenticeship and is still waiting for the seven-month SOLAS block. After he completes that, he has to do two blocks in college. It will, therefore, be seven years before he will have completed what started out as a four-year apprenticeship. He made the point that that is longer than doctors or barristers have to study for. That is fair enough. There is also a fair enough analogy to be drawn in that, notwithstanding all of the difficulties posed by Covid, in particular the difficulties in health settings, clinical studies, laboratories, etc., there were not and are not the same delays and backlogs in completing a medical degree that apprentices are now encountering. My constituent's son is contemplated leaving the country.

Working at full capacity may not be enough. We may need temporary extraordinary measures to clear these backlogs. Those on whom we are relying to carry out the very ambitious plans the Government is setting out are contemplating leaving the country because they are frustrated by the lack of progress in being able to complete an apprenticeship. There is, of course, a huge difference in what apprentices and qualified carpenters, electricians, joiners, plumbers, etc., are paid. The reason many people do apprenticeships is that they will be able to earn a living and get on with their lives after a fixed period of time. The goalposts are changing before their eyes. They are getting frustrated. The Government needs to deal with this and I would like to know what it has planned to do.

See this speech in context