Vol. 440 No. 3
11 Mr. Clohessy asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the discussions, if any, he has had with the Construction Industry Federation in relation to the implementation of the apprenticeship scheme; and if so, the outcome of these discussions.
75 Miss Harney asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the discussions, if any, he has had with the Construction Industry Federation in relation to the implementation of the apprenticeship scheme; and if so, the outcome of these discussions.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 75 together.
Over the past six months I had a number of meetings with the Construction Industry Federation, as well as the social partners, on the implementation of the new apprenticeship system.
There is no need for me to tell Deputy Richard Bruton, Deputy Quill or indeed others about that because we had a very full debate on the matter recently. The answer supplied to me is based on all the issues we discussed recently in the House together. Therefore, I do not propose to go through each one again. If any Member wants to know the outcome of the meetings or what took place between me and the Construction Industry Federation, I shall be pleased to advise them.
I do not want to bore them by giving details of all the legislative proposals recently debated in the House.
Resulting from meetings of the Minister of State with the Construction Industry Federation, does she anticipate that additional young people will be taken into apprenticeship schemes within the construction industry in the forthcoming year? If so, how many additional places will there be? Has the Minister an assurance that people who commence apprenticeship courses will complete them? I understand the fall off rate is very high. We are deluding ourselves if we take encouragement from the smaller number who commence apprenticeships because almost 50 per cent do not complete the course.
An unacceptable number of apprentices do not complete their studies. When I am asked to provide more apprenticeship places I ask about the number of people who complete their studies and those who fall out of the system. I have had four meetings with the Construction Industry Federation. They have had many difficulties within their own industry. Construction contracts are often broken down into subcontracts which in turn are broken down into further subcontracts. A one man contractor may not be able to take on an apprentice. This results in many difficulties in the construction industry. Nevertheless, they have exhibited goodwill. FÁS tutors throughout the country literally beat the bushes to find an employer who will sponsor an apprentice. The difficulty is to get them. I am not happy that an apprentice can be arbitrarily let go. I do not know what has happened to the old idea of responsibility for training a young person in one's care. We are making slow progress. I was pleased to note in the discussions which ended last Friday between officials of my Department and the EU Commission that the new standards-based apprenticeship system was highly recommended. The question they asked was when it would apply in all the other spheres. I was very pleased at that.
Will the Minister meet with the industry on a regular basis or will she put some formal mechanism in place to monitor progress? Unless that is done there will be no major change in the prospects for young people who want to get into apprenticeships. Deputy Deenihan said some time ago that it is easier for a young person to get into university then to get into an apprenticeship. If that continues, future prospects are grim.
Yes, Deputy Deenihan and all of us said that in the debate. Even if there are limited places we want those places apportioned fairly. Arrangements have been made to commence discussions with Aer Rianta, Aer Lingus, Bord na Móna, ESB, the Army and county councils, all of whom have apprentices in place, to encourage them to take on more. I have arranged to have ongoing meetings with the Construction Industry Federation. A measure I suggested — at which they did not demur and which is contained in the Programme for Competitiveness and Work — was that we would seek to have an arrangement whereby construction companies tendering for water and sewerage schemes, hospitals, schools and so on would, as part of their contract price, provide for a number of apprentices.
