(Limerick West): As I said, Army and Air Corps apprentices are recruited in the age bracket 16 to 18 years. There are approximately 5,000 applications for between 50 and 100 apprenticeships in the Army and Air Corps each year. In order to take account of the fact that military apprentices are liable for some military duties during their training, the revised rates have been fixed higher than the rate for apprentices in other State employment. For example, the rates which apply to apprentices in local authorities, the Office of Public Works, the ESB and CIE are as follows: in the first year in a local authority it is £53.96, in the ESB it is £52.93, in CIE it is £50.28, as against £68.76 in the military establishments. In the second year in the Office of Public Works and the local authorities it is £80.95, in the ESB it is £79.40, in CIE it is £75.42 and in the Air Corps it is £95.75, and so on. As the Deputy can see, taking into account the duties involved and because of a certain amount of military training, the rates paid to Army and Air Corps Apprentices are considerably higher than those paid to apprentices in other State employment.