Sir, - Mr Terry Hobdell's spirited defence of the situation of the small businessman (February 6th) should be welcomed by all fair minded people. Having heard Mr Hobdell on the radio, where he articulated very precisely his firm's predicament, I felt that he deserved a more considered response from the Minister. The response which did come was pure Richard Nixon - come out firing with all guns and sink your enemy, even if you also sink everything else within range.
The employee whom I feel Mr Hobdell and many other small/ medium firms requires is simply not being produced by our education system any longer. His requirement is for a reasonably articulate and numerate person of average intelligence, capable of telling the difference between a yard and an inch or a metre and a millimetre.
In days past it was a natural progression for many young people, who were unable or unwilling to go beyond the Group Cent, to put their energy into securing an apprenticeship. I know, because I was one. I had the fortune and pleasure to train in CIE with a group of some 16 others, all of whom have become productive and constant contributors to this country's economy. In common with this group, I have never known the terror of unemployment, largely due to an excellent, sound, basic, sensible education and first class practical training.
Today, both the education and skills training system seem incapable of producing the broad, open minded individual, who was in reality far more adaptable than the supposed multi skilled individuals now being disgorged by our education system directly into the official FAS type training programmes. The apprenticeship scheme has been modernised and shortened, or more focused, as we are told, and resembles a human production line with very little scope for individualism to shine through.
Ministers should be forcing themselves to accept that for many young people going from school to a make believe fairytale schemeland is but the first gentle step into a neverending decline. Instead of using state resources to attract basically worthless telesales operations into Ireland (in reality little more than Government aided nuisance phone call operations) the minister should be looking to promoting industrial activity in directions other than the much vaunted silicon area. There is still much to be gained from promoting engineering and the so called "manual" industries, rather than concentrating on sexy electro tech jobs.
I would venture to suggest that if there are any clouds or cuckoos then they are hovering over Leinster House, rather than over the small and medium engineering businesess typified by Mr Hobdell's firm. Yours etc,
Tallaght,
Dublin 24.