James Lawless

I entirely agree with the Deputy regarding the economic headwinds he referred to in his supplementary question. Part of our competitive offering is that we have such a strong talent base, we invest in education and we invest in research and innovation. Later today, I will travel to Brussels to attend a research council with European Council colleagues and ministers in related briefs across the Eu…

The Deputy mentioned the IUA paper published in March. I actually appointed the IUA to my working group and it is actually actively involved in it already. It is an excellent organisation and it is worthwhile to have it in the room for these discussions. The other thing I will say about the programme as I currently envisage it and through my work with the expert group is that it is intended to be …

I thank the Deputy and acknowledge his continuing interest in this area and in the matter he referred to at the end of his question. More generally, at the outset, supporting the participation and success of learners with disabilities is a critical national priority. It is something I have been very much engaged in since I took up my role, as were my predecessors. The Minister of State, Deputy Har…

As acknowledged regarding PATH 4, I did commit almost €3 million in additional funding just this week towards that funding. I also intend to initiate a disability demonstration project, which will inform the development of the new policy framework for more flexible and responsive tailored supports for those students and their educational journey. A great deal of work is being done. Regarding the …

I acknowledge the Deputy's ongoing advocacy for this group and we have talked about it on a number of occasions already. I know he may be a little sceptical of interdepartmental reviews and the rest of it, but the last one made significant progress. Anyone would acknowledge that a 42% pay increase is a pretty substantial one. Certainly progress has been made but I acknowledge that elements of it a…

I will make an opening statement and then the Chair of the Oireachtas committee, Deputy Erin McGreehan, will speak and the Minister of State, Deputy Marian Harkin, will close the debate at the end. I welcome that we have taken some time in the House today to address one of the most important issues that confronts a government at any time, but particularly in changing and challenging times such as…

I thank Deputy Cahill for raising this important matter. I acknowledge the Deputy's continued advocacy for his constituency of Kerry and his interest in this topic. He has raised this issue with me via parliamentary questions as well as elsewhere. I am aware of the issue the Deputy has raised. It is an important and frustrating issue. It has been raised with me in a number of different situations.…

I thank the Deputy for his advocacy. I appreciate that there can be short notice - I understand it is typically seven days from a letter of offer to a response. If an apprentice is not in a position to take up the offer that time, it is given to the next person on the list. There are two competing goals. One is to keep the system moving and keep apprentices on the waiting list moving forward throu…

We stand on a precipice. The world is burning and the barbarians are at the gate. We face multiple existential crises. We have instability in the Middle East, war in Ukraine and climate change. Trade wars will start tomorrow, with tariffs posing threats to the global economy.

Tomorrow, we will see the threats becoming real. In this House, we watched aghast as Boris Johnson and the Brexiteers prorogued parliament, when they suspended the people's assembly, denying that parliamentary procedure could take place. We watched in horror on 6 January 2021 when the Capitol rioters stormed Washington DC to stop the election results being ratified. We never thought we would see i…

We are talking about eight minutes of speaking time.

Across the floor, we see three groups. We see the "Shout 'em down Shinners", yet again agitating, barracking anybody or anything that stands in their way. I fundamentally believe they cannot accept the outcome of the election. They could not accept the outcome of the one before that either-----

-----because, in 2020, they went on a world tour proclaiming that they had actually won the election despite the fact that they did not command a majority of the House. They lost the next election in 2024. The "most effective Opposition history the State" - it was certainly the most hyped Opposition history of State - also had the greatest drop in support in the history the State of any Opposition…

We move on to Sinn Féin's junior partners on the benches beside it and we will look at the Labour Party-----

-----which is once again in thrall to a militant tendency that has retaken the Labour Party,-----

-----a party that was rooted in principle but ran away from government. At the first opportunity before an RTÉ microphone when the last votes were still being counted, the Labour Party declared it wanted nothing to do with government.

What is the point in going before the people with the manifesto if you have no interest in implementing it?

Then we have the "Social Media Democrats". As its own recently resigned member-----

As its own recently resigned member, David McGinn, said recently, it is a fundamentally unserious party. Those are not my words, but his. This is a serious crisis and we need serious players. The Government provides that seriousness.

That is why the Deputy is in opposition.

Ag insint bréag.

I thank the Deputy for her question. At the outset, I want to challenge the characterisation of "unfit for purpose". That is a strong phrase and is not one that was reflected in the parliamentary question as tabled. I do not believe that is true or fair to the system. There have been backlogs. Those backlogs are being worked through, for sure. For context, there has been a strong growth in demand…

Let us consider the result of the measures I spoke about, the additional €67 million, the subsequent €77 million, the additional 110 instructors and the 80 instructors converted onto different types of contracts bringing an additional 190 instructors into the system. This has meant that craft training places have increased by 43%. That brought places from 5,600 at the end of 2023 when the backlog …

I thank the Deputy. A review is ongoing across the whole sector. There are many different types of apprenticeships now. There are the craft apprenticeships, which are related to construction skills, there are climate skills and apprenticeships for accounting technicians and digital marketing - and my Department has a number of staff working in that apprenticeship - so it is very much a broader and…

I believe there is another question.