Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I concur with previous speakers on the draft agreement that was launched yesterday. It is fair that we acknowledge the input of everyone involved from all parties and none from an Irish perspective in reaching this point. Unfortunately, the story is far from over and it is a very fluid situation. I wonder where this draft agreement will go. If I was a betting person, I would not put too much money on the British Prime Minister lasting much longer. I hope I will be proved wrong but I have concerns in that regard. There is a long way to go before this is over. We will discuss this subject in the House for many months and possibly years to come.

My other point concerns apprenticeships, an issue on which I came across a report recently. Unfortunately, Ireland is bottom of the European league table when it comes to apprenticeships in terms of the scale and diversity of apprenticeships on offer. Apprenticeships have always been the Cinderella of careers, which is very unfortunate. If we look at the scale of our problem with apprenticeships and the work that needs to be done, we can see that the statistics for the 2017-18 academic year are stark and highlight the gravity of the task that lies ahead. The total number of people in apprenticeships in that year stood at 14,871. The figure for enrolment in third level public institutions in the same academic year was 235,644. That shows the difficult task ahead of us.

I acknowledge the work that has been done on apprenticeships but, clearly, much more needs to be done. Female participation in apprenticeships last year was 2% compared with 50% in our nearest neighbour, the United Kingdom. We need a large-scale public campaign to create awareness of apprenticeships. If I were seeking an ambassador or poster boy for apprenticeships for young people thinking about apprenticeships, I would look no further than Martin McVicar from Combilift in County Monaghan, where I live. If I mention Martin McVicar or Combilift, everyone knows who I am talking about. The Government could do worse than pick up the phone to Martin McVicar and ask him to be our ambassador or poster boy for apprenticeships. When we look at housing, we see the lack of skilled workers in construction. If we look at the hospitality sector, both hotels and restaurants, we see that much more needs to be done in this area.