Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with an awful lot of what the Deputy said, having grown up in a house where we always had craft apprentices related to the construction sector. When the wheels came off the wagon in this country in 2008 and 2010 to 2011, we did not have the certainty to provide a great many of these young women and young men with gainful employment. People who would ordinarily have gone into this went away. Now our economy is far more buoyant and we have a job to do to make sure they feel safe and that this is a career path and a career choice for them. To be fair to SOLAS, the Department and the ETBs, substantial investment in this area has been made to make sure we get those craft apprentices in.

As a point of note, of the 25 craft apprenticeship programmes, only four - my note should not say "only" four - are on average completing phase 6 over 48 months and two are completing it significantly more than 48 months. The situation needs to be improved - I acknowledge that, and there is always room for improvement in the area of education - but I do not think the glass is half empty.

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