Call to retain apprentice staff

EMPLOYERS have been asked not to cut back on apprentice recruitment because of economic difficulties.

Addressing the 7th Annual Institutes of Technology Apprenticeship Committee conference, entitled Adapting Apprenticeship for the Future, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Martin Cullen, said he believes the slowdown in our economy will be short-lived and urged employers not to take rash decisions.

“There is a danger in a tightening situation that companies and employers would ‘shrink back’.

“I would appeal to people not to put us in a position that we cut back on apprenticeships and when we need apprentices in three or four years time, we don’t have them.

“There has to be a balance and I would appeal to employers to keep an eye on that ball. I know it is difficult and I know it is challenging. But it is equally vitally important that we keep those doors and those people moving forward through the system so we can take up any shortfall in what I believe will be a fairly fast turn-around,” he said.

Waterford Institute of Technology director, Professor Kieran R Byrne, said: “Whether or not we have learnt anything from the prosperity we have experienced in the past 15 years will be proven perhaps in the next five years. We need to be able to plan with a level of maturity and demonstrate professionalism in holding together the strongest components of our economic fabric.”

Heavy investment in our education system has never been more critical as we adjust to a much more challenging economic climate, according to Friends First chief economist Jim Power.

“Our education system, from primary to fourth level and everything in between, has been starved of funding in recent years.

“If there is one thing that can enable Ireland to compete on the global stage, it is the quality of the labour force. The number one priority for our policy makers should be to ensure the quality of the educational offering is not undermined, that we continue to see heavy investment in there and that the quality of the labour force we are able to offer indigenous and external employers is of the highest quality possible,” Mr Power said.