Sir, – The issue of apprentices facing exorbitant registration fees as a result of the recent Budget (Paul Gorey, October 31st) is all too familiar to the Technical, Engineering & Electrical Union, which successfully challenged the Department of Education over the very same issue in 2004.
The attempt by the Department of Education to impose a similar charge met with a nationwide apprentices’ protest and a High Court challenge before an agreement was reached. Now in 2013, workers once more appear to be the forgotten group in terms of the Government’s considerations. Eamon Devoy, general secretary of the TEEU, said: “Apprentices are employees not students and the proposed imposition of this stealth tax against young people who are working for less than the minimum wage, in many instances, flies in the face of the Government statement that youth employment is one of their key strategies”.
As mentioned the TEEU reached an agreement with the Department of Education on this matter in 2004 and would still expect that such an agreement would be “honoured”. With that in mind one would have to ask has the Minister and his Department lost site of this concept of honouring agreements along with losing site of the commitment the Government made to Youth employment? If this is the case then it may well be time to remind them once again. – Yours, etc,
BRIAN NOLAN,
TEEU , (National
Construction),
Gardiner Row, Dublin 1.