Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)

It is really important that these courses proceed and that people be allowed to work their way through the system because we need a conveyor belt of graduates in all courses.

There was a reference earlier to reflection on how we have ended up in this place. None of the students or apprentices has dropped out of the sky; they have been in the system. Has SOLAS dropped the ball? Did the Minister’s predecessor, Deputy O’Donovan, do so? What has gone wrong such that we have ended up as we have? I hope that through the Minister’s and collective efforts, we will get out of this, but it is a serious concern. I wonder what is at the heart of it.

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