Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Teach. This is an important debate because for a long time I have believed that we should re-orientate our education and training system to balance it somewhat. For too long it has been rather weighted on the points race at second level. As a result, important and key skills which can be acquired through effective apprenticeships in myriad areas have not received the type of attention they should have. The Minister of State referred to it as being haphazard or ad hoc but I consider it to be a mishmash and not fit for purpose.

I welcome what is in train at the moment and what is happening with all 16 education and training boards. There is a focused strategy which, I hope, they will develop and implement in the coming months and years. I hope this results in the reorientation to which I have referred.

We have suffered greatly in recent years as a result of a significant economic downturn. In some ways, this has provided an opportunity for people to upskill but I do not believe we have exercised that opportunity to its maximum because of the mishmash that has been the entire training and apprenticeship structure in this country.

One legacy the Minister of State could leave when he eventually moves on to another Department could be to have a proper coherent workable structure of apprenticeships in Ireland and not only in the general areas where apprenticeships tend to arise. The Minister of State should push the boat out and extend the boundaries to areas which may not necessarily be typical for apprenticeships at the moment.

I saw an interesting television programme on a tailor in Tullow, County Carlow. His son took over the tailoring business. That was a skill in itself. I believe there are many young people who are creative in design and who would be keen take the opportunity to avail of an apprenticeship in tailoring, for example. Apprenticeships could be arranged for any job that requires the use of hands, including all areas of manufacturing and not only the traditional areas associated with construction.

In recent years we have seen the evolution of all sorts of internships. Unfortunately, most are unpaid. We have seen interns coming into this House and into the offices of the Deputies and Senators. We have seen some fantastic young people who, as part of a third level masters course, got the opportunity to spend several days a week working in the offices of Members of the Oireachtas. The majority of Members gave them constructive research work to do but others not so, unfortunately. That is one example of internships. The idea has percolated throughout industry at this stage and we also have JobBridge and so on.

As part of an overall educational and training review, we need to consider putting proper structures in place for interns and the people who employ interns. We have a certain structure with JobBridge but I believe we need to have a conversation on internships. My fear is that some in the private sector are taking advantage of young people who find themselves unemployed after graduating from college. This is something that should be considered.

I have been involved in an organisation called the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability, AHEAD. I sit on the steering committee for the Willing Able Mentoring, WAM, programme, a paid internship programme for young people with disabilities who have graduated from college. In recent years over 100 such graduates have gone into a paid internship, which has led to getting full-time permanent paid employment within the organisations concerned or, in the case of banking, within the banking industry but not necessarily with the organisations concerned. I wish to pay tribute to some of the leading companies which take part in this, including Dell, Citibank, Abbott and so forth.

As part of any development of training programmes and apprenticeships we should be mindful of equality and ensure that people with disabilities who have the skills, qualifications and ability are given the same opportunities as everyone else to get apprenticeships and internships and the same opportunity to get on to training programmes as well.