Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I completely agree that we need to ensure the quality remains the same but I ask that it be done in medicine, which is very important, as is building. We know what bad quality building results in. We are living through it now and the Government has to deal with its consequences. We do need people coming through. The Taoiseach cited many figures relating to new apprentices coming in but it is about those who are in the system. I appreciate that measures are in place, but I urge the Taoiseach to try to ramp them up because even if the backlog for stage 2 is cleared, does that backlog then continue through the system? Do the apprentices ever catch up on that delay or do they just get on to the next stage, albeit a year and a half later, and are then a year and a half late throughout the system? If the latter is the case, it is profoundly unfair. A way needs to be found to ensure that, even if the apprentices who started off to do a four-year apprenticeship cannot complete it in four years, at least they are not looking at seven years because that would be entirely unfair to them. I think the Taoiseach and I agree on that at least.

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