James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

My immediate focus is on fixing the problem but I hear what the Deputy is saying. The immediate response is to address the funding gap to ensure no courses are detrimentally impacted to the extent that they would not progress into next year. I have written to the chair of SOLAS to instruct that no apprenticeship classes be cancelled. Once this is resolved – I am confident it will be in the short term – there may need to be some governance amendments and stronger protections within the system to ensure an early warning, far in advance, of issues concerning financial management.

Let me finish on a positive. To an extent, this is a feature of success. The demand for and interest in the apprenticeship route have increased considerably over recent years, to the extent that craft registrations, for example, amounted to 7,100 despite the 6,800 forecast. This is mirrored across most of the cohorts. Therefore, we have more people who want to do apprenticeships than ever before.

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