Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We do not feel that is an issue. It has not been flagged to me, but we will look at it based on what the Deputy has said here today. As the Deputy knows, the national development plan, Housing for All and our climate action responsibilities and targets are a huge focus for all of us. We put significant resources into building our capacity to address the backlog which, as we know, was all down to Covid. We are not using that as an excuse, but we have to call it as it is. We are making significant inroads.

We are carrying out an instructor recruitment campaign through the National Apprenticeship Office, which has been hugely successful in trying to attract people. Everything that we can possibly do to increase capacity and bring people into off-the-job training more quickly is being done. We also have to protect the quality of the programmes these apprentices are pursuing. That is also paramount. We cannot rush the fences. We have to ensure that people work properly and learn on the job, that their off-the-job training is structured properly, that they get the necessary level of qualification and that we protect the integrity of the qualification.

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