Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)

I thank the Minister for his engagement on this. Going slightly off the amendment for a moment, he touched on an important aspect of apprenticeships more broadly. As I said and he referenced, there is still a slight mantra in Ireland that an apprentice is second best to a child or young person who goes on to UCC, UCD, Trinity or somewhere like that. There is still that perception out there. As a former teacher, I find that difficult to accept. I call on every teacher across the country to take on my fundamental belief that encouragement must be given to students to go into apprenticeships. We will always need plumbers, carpenters and hairdressers. The essential thing is that we prioritise those.

It is often the case that those who seek an apprenticeship are from a socioeconomically disadvantaged area. That was always the norm in this country but now we are seeing a different spectrum where people from all areas are going into an apprenticeship because they are figuring out the role they want to do. There has to be a significant culture change and, slowly but surely, we are moving towards it. That change has to involve accepting that apprenticeships are on the same level as third level degrees.

I know the Minister will say it is but I must say again it has to be a priority for the Government. There are so many young people out there. As the Minister said, there are 78 apprenticeship courses. It has to be an absolute essential for this Government.

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