I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. The question concerns budgetary issues facing SOLAS and the ETBs and the detrimental impact this may have on the delivery of apprenticeships. We all know the importance of apprenticeships. I submitted this on the basis that myself, Deputy Cullinane and a number of our colleagues heard word on the grapevine about individual ETBs saying their finances and budget had been slashed. How it was put to me is that in 2025 the budget is possibly more than €40 million less. On that basis we are looking at the possibility that when we are meant to have an intake of new trade and other apprenticeships in July, they could be put back to September or October and some of them could be cancelled. We all know about the housing crisis and it would be unheard of if this were to happen. Usually, we would be talking in here about ramping up the delivery of apprenticeships. I met the Minister and I also met the previous Minister at the opening of facilities in my constituency involved in the training of apprentices. We want to see more of that. This may have an impact on further education across the board. I refer to all sorts of apprenticeships, including in PLCs, and in community education whereby people study at night either part time or full time. I am incredibly worried, but I hope the Minister will set my mind at ease, and the minds of the stakeholders who have contacted us, as well as people who are looking forward to doing an apprenticeship and those who will require the apprentices. It is vital that he gives the answer that is required.

Sentiment score: 0.07

I welcome the statement by the Minister that no apprenticeship class will be cancelled. I assume that also means none will be paused. I would like to think there will not be any major cuts across the service in the further education area. The Minister said the situation has just arisen. Could he explain how this was not foreseen at an earlier stage? I welcome the fact that he is addressing it. Could he give us a timeline for when this will be settled because the reason we have all heard this, both officially and unofficially, is people are very afraid due to the difficulties that have arisen. We must ensure that there is sustainable funding for further education, in particular apprenticeships, because we spend half the time in here talking about the necessity to build more houses. It would not do if we were not providing a sufficient number of apprenticeships. That is accepting the complexity of the issue, as outlined by the Minister.

Sentiment score: 0.09