Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Can we get a figure for how big a hole we are talking about? I have heard it is between €40 million and €50 million and I have heard in relation to Louth and Meath ETB that it is between €8 million and €11 million-plus. It is necessary that the Minister engage with SOLAS. Like Deputy O'Sullivan, I think at some point we will need to know how this came about. The Minister only discussed this a month ago. Many of us heard this only in the recent past. It is a question of how this was missed and of ensuring protocols exist such that a situation like this cannot arise. It is a necessity that the Minister have that conversation with the Minister for public expenditure and secure the funding. Our fear is that, while we might not have cancelled apprenticeships, we are having postponements and a slow-up in the system, and that is not acceptable.

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