James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I am meeting representatives of SOLAS this week and I will raise it with them because it is not good enough if that is happening on the ground. I will make sure I engage with them on that matter. To some extent, all of us in any job end up taking on additional tasks or roles that may be slightly outside what we might be tasked to do. However, it should not be at scale, should not be routine and should not be repeated. Employers have no automatic entitlement to take on apprentices. Employers must fulfil their part of the bargain. An apprenticeship is a two-way street; it is not a one-way system at all. The employer gets the benefit of the employee, the apprentice, coming in applying their craft and their skills and bringing their energy and enterprise to the equation. The apprentice gets the benefit of the employer training them and providing other experienced employees in that workplace to assist and mentor. There is also a cost to the employer in doing that in taking other employees out of production to assist the apprentice coming through. It is a good system and has worked well for some time and one we want to expand and enhance. It requires adherence from both sides to their obligations.

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