Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his answer. I am very familiar with Skillnet Ireland. I met some of its people in the University of Limerick recently and they told me about the micro-credential programmes they have, which are very interesting and innovative.

I welcome the Minister of State's answer. Something that has been reported recently, and certainly the employer representatives have mentioned it, is the National Training Fund, where there is €855 million this year, and it is predicted to increase to something between €1.4 billion and €1.9 billion by 2025. There is a very significant amount of money there. What do we need to do to unlock that money and is there a role for that kind of funding to develop apprenticeships for the various sectors as we reform our society?

See this speech in context