Apprenticeships: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-10 ============================================================ Laura Harmon (LAB), Industrial and Commercial Panel Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I welcome the guests in the Gallery and thanks and congratulations to Katelyn Cummins for all the work she does. She is a real ambassador for people in trades and apprenticeships. I myself am the daughter of a carpenter, so this issue is close to my heart as well. It goes without saying that we have to improve the diversity in terms of those taking up apprenticeships, not just in terms of gender but in terms of different abilities and those from different backgrounds. We know in Ireland that we are 20% below the EU average in terms of employment for people with disabilities, for example. There is certainly an opportunity here to get more disabled people involved in apprenticeships. Pay is certainly part of this. Pay and conditions and supports have to be key in this regard. I will draw attention specifically to one social enterprise in Ballinlough, Cork, that I visited recently. It is called Deaf Enterprises. I visited it with Councillor Peter Horgan and Councillor Ciara O'Connor, who are working with me in the Labour Party. It was one of my favourite places I have ever visited. I saw the work it does. It is the biggest employer of people who are deaf or hard of hearing in Ireland and it does incredible work restoring furniture and reupholstering. In the past five years it has done up over 1,200 bicycles. It is a real hub of learning. It provides employment for people. They pointed out to me that we should look at Vienna, that there is a place in Vienna called Wien Work that provides 800 apprenticeship places over a four-year period. Under the one roof it has 11 trades and it is very much focused on building and construction - brickwork, plastering, joinery, electrical - and they very much encouraged us to look towards that model. I was just very struck by that particular social enterprise, Deaf Enterprises in Cork, and I thank Steve Flint and Claire O'Mahony for showing me around the vicinity. I know they have been engaging with the Government on it, but I absolutely encourage the Minister and the Minister of State to visit the site because I thought it was absolutely incredible just to see it. It was a hub of learning and of inclusivity, providing employment for people and employment for trainers. That is an area that can certainly be looked at. We need to move away from this idea that the gold standard is to go to university, a technological university or whatever it might be. It is about people fulfilling their full potential in life and pursuing their skills regardless of whether it is in academia, working in the trades, the arts or whatever it may be. We absolutely have to encourage more people into apprenticeships and promote it as a pathway. We need these skills. Certainly, in terms of construction, this is vital. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-10/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:36+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-10