I wish to raise the issue of apprentices being forced to pay college fees. These fees can range from €833 to €1,433 per year, depending on the particular apprenticeship and how much time is required in college. The Minister for Education and Skills insists on treating apprentices as students, but they are not students. They cannot avail of student grants or other financial assistance available to students. They are full-time workers and very low-paid workers at that. Apprentices in their first year will be paid the minimum wage and their pay does not rise much after that. They pay income tax, the universal social charge, PRSI and so forth. The apprentices of today are very different from apprentices in the past. The latter often left school at 15 or 16 and were finished their apprenticeships by the time they were 21 or 22. Many of today's apprentices are young adults with family responsibilities. A total of 1,500 out of the 7,500 apprentices in Ireland are currently unemployed. They have been made redundant and may have to wait a number of years to gain employment and continue their apprenticeships.

In 2004 there was an attempt to make apprentices pay college fees but it was defeated by mass protests and the threat of a legal challenge in the High Court. This Government reintroduced college fees for apprentices in the October budget. The Technical, Electrical and Engineering Union, TEEU, and the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, have launched a campaign to axe the tax on learning. They have quite correctly pointed out that it makes a mockery of the promise to provide young people with a job, work experience, an apprenticeship or training under the youth guarantee. I am glad to see the Minister for Education and Skills is in the House today. To date, he has refused to meet the TEEU or the USI. Will the Tánaiste, as leader of the Labour Party, give an absolute commitment to arrange such a meeting and address the concerns of these young workers? I urge him to find the resources to reinstate the payment of college fees for this small group of workers. It was with FÁS but did not transfer over to SOLAS.

I understand the Minister for Education and Skills is planning to meet the USI about this issue. He is making arrangements for a date for the meeting. My understanding of the issue is that a student registration fee applies throughout the education system and what is applied in the case of apprentices is on a pro rata basis.

The Government is looking at the apprenticeship system very closely. The Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, has received a report from a review carried out by Mr. Kevin Duffy on apprenticeships. The role of apprenticeships in the modern economy is part of what we need to do in order to get people back to work and ensure that the economy fully recovers. Apprenticeships are used in a much wider way in other countries than in this country. We have tended to have an apprenticeship system for a fairly limited range of trades. There is a much wider definition and concept of apprenticeships in other European countries. There are a number of things we can probably learn from that.

We must also ensure that employers are open to taking on apprentices. That must be part of the recovery story as we move forward. Even in good times we saw a reluctance on the part of some employers to take on apprentices. There are two parts to the apprenticeship process; there is the on-the-job training and experience that the apprentice gets, and there is also the formal education part, which is in a school or college. The issue to which Deputy Collins’s question relates in particular is the pro rata student registration charge which applies to the formal education element of an apprenticeship. In respect of that issue, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, has indicated his willingness to meet the USI about it.

I thank the Tánaiste, but he did not really answer my question. What I asked was for an immediate meeting with the TEEU and the USI. We spoke to both organisations yesterday afternoon and they had received no indication that a meeting would be organised. Perhaps the situation could be clarified as soon as possible.

The institutions were not even approached before the October budget to say that another possible way of funding students through their apprenticeships was being considered. According to the TEEU and the USI, the scheme was axed with no discussion or debate.

I could make a political play on the issue but I will not because it is too serious. A campaign is being set up that is also backed by the Labour Party candidate for the Leinster region in the European Parliament elections. The matter must be dealt with and resources found immediately. FÁS was supplying the money and SOLAS should supply it now. The matter should be sorted out and the scheme should be reinstated immediately.

One of the points we must bear in mind is that apprentices continue to be paid while they are in the education part of their apprenticeship.

They are low-paid.

The estimate I have is that the levels of pay can range from €300 a week to €700 a week, depending on the particular apprenticeship. It is not unreasonable that where there is a student charge, those who are part of the education system and are getting paid would contribute to the student charge. In some cases, students who do not get paid have to contribute to the charge.

Deputy Collins’s question was whether the Minister for Education and Skills would meet with USI to discuss the issue.

And whether he will provide resources.

I indicated that he is willing to do that and he intends to do that. The Minister for Education and Skills is examining the apprenticeship system in a much wider way because we can use apprenticeships in a much more creative and broader way in the economy to get people back into employment, to get appropriate training and to ensure that people are equipped for work. We have had a system of apprenticeship in this country that has been far too confined and limited and, in some cases, for periods that were too long. The issue is now being addressed by the Minister for Education and Skills.