Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To respond to Deputy Stanton, yes I have. Indeed, some of the changes we have brought to the CAO website have been things the guidance councillors have been campaigning for over a decade so they are very much driving this and I am eager to work very closely with them.

Deputy Bruton is entirely right. The public sector needs to step up here. To be really clear, it has not done so. A public sector that employs around 300,000 taking on around 200 apprentices per year is offensive. It is offensive to me, offensive to the Government and offensive to mums and dads right across this country. Every local authority, Government Department and State agency should be doing it. What we are doing at the moment is we have a global figure of 750. We want 750 apprentices every year across the public sector by 2025. We are in the mapping exercise of that right now of going out to the local authority, asking where its skills needs are, where can it take on apprentices and how many. It is my intention to return to the Government in the autumn and map out how we get from here with in and around 200 per year to 750 per year. The local authorities will have a major part to play in that and yes, absolutely, that will be a big moment with a central depository, if you like, of public sector apprenticeships available to all our citizens. I will keep the Deputy informed on that.

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