James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his advocacy. I appreciate that there can be short notice - I understand it is typically seven days from a letter of offer to a response. If an apprentice is not in a position to take up the offer that time, it is given to the next person on the list. There are two competing goals. One is to keep the system moving and keep apprentices on the waiting list moving forward through the queue while at the same time accommodating people's preferences in terms of region or location in order that they can continue their studies.

As I said, it may not always be the closest location but it is the next on the list at that particular time. Timeliness and location are the two competing issues. There can be anomalies, which I have seen in cases raised with me. If the Deputy wants to raise a particular case or cases, I would be happy to take a detailed note on that. Perhaps I can engage with the Deputy off-line to see whether we can progress a particular issue for him.

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