Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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1051. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will address matters raised in correspondence (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39555/23]

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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1066. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason that a person (details supplied) has only been called for a one-off job education phase; and when they will be called for their next phase. [39830/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1051, 1064 and 1066 together.

The apprenticeship system provides a real and substantive career pathway for first time learners, it allows them to ‘earn while they learn’ whilst also combining practical hands on training with classroom learning.To date, the programmes on offer through this model have expanded to address areas of skills shortage such as engineering, technology, logistics, and fin-tech.

The current buoyant labour market, coupled with the recognition of apprenticeship as a valuable employment and skills development opportunity, is a welcome endorsement of this Government’s support of, and ambitions for, Apprenticeships in the tertiary sector.

The broader range of apprenticeship offerings and a growth in registrations, linked to the re-opening of the economy after the pandemic, created an apprentice population of 24,212 by the end of 2021. Strong registrations continued in 2022, with 8,286 registrations - an increase of 34% on the pre-Covid figure in 2019, and a population of 26,325 at year end. This trend has continued in 2023, with 4,711 registrations to end-August and a population of 25,409.

The increased popularity of apprenticeship, particularly in areas relating to construction, coupled with legacy backlogs from Covid related closures has meant ongoing delays in offering training.

There is a crucial requirement to align training capacity in ETBs with the continued strong demand for apprenticeships - with particular focus on apprenticeships linked to the construction sector - and also to put in place further measures which will add to capacity over the period required to respond to ongoing delays in apprenticeship training.

In August 2021, there were almost 12,000 apprentices awaiting off-the-job training. At the end of August this year, 7,578 apprentices were waiting for off-the-job training. Of these, 5,257 apprentices were waiting longer than six months.

The pipefitting apprentice referenced by the Deputy is one of 340 apprentices across the country waiting for phase 4 training at the end of August this year, of which 15 apprentices had been waiting for longer than 6 months.

Reducing the number of apprentices waiting for training has been an area of unrelenting focus for this Government.

During 2019, some 9,700 craft apprentices were being put through off-the-job training. This dropped to 7,000 in 2020 due largely to the impact of Covid, and returned to growth in 2021 with number of apprentices trained increasing to 7,300. My Department has worked closely with SOLAS and the ETBs to continue to increase training capacity, resulting in 13,000 places delivered in 2022, a very important step in responding to the challenge of apprentices waiting to access off-the-job training. It is intended to deliver some 15,300 places in total in 2023.

In order to further accelerate and intensify delivery of increased apprenticeship training capacity, a taskforce chaired by my Department composed of representatives of SOLAS, the National Apprenticeship Office, the Higher Education Authority, Education and Training Boards Ireland, the Education and Training Boards, and union representatives has been established with responsibility to implement successfully a set of actions to address this very significant and important issue.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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1052. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills how many instructors are employed nationwide to conduct pipefitting apprenticeship training (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39556/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Currently, Phase 2 Pipefitting training is delivered in Cork ETB and LMETB by two instructors. Phase 4 is currently delivered in LMETB and there is currently one workshop with one instructor delivering the training.

As of August 2023, the total population of Pipefitting apprentices is 329, 327 of whom are and 2 of whom are female.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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1053. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if pipefitting apprenticeship training can be facilitated online, as was done during the pandemic (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39557/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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During the pandemic, when ETB training centres were closed, some apprentices moved to online learning for theory elements of their programme only. It was not possible to deliver practical training on any apprenticeship at that time as it requires the use of in-person instruction and the use of a workshop.

Craft apprenticeship programmes work through integrated theory and practical training to allow for the application of the theoretical training in a workshop setting. This is essential to the successful training of apprentices. Therefore, training of craft apprentices was immediately returned to the standard approach once the health restrictions relating to the pandemic were eased.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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1054. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the projected timeframe for the completion of an apprenticeship (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39558/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Work is under way to increase the level of training capacity across the apprenticeship system. In addition, an accelerated on-the-job process to reduce time gaps between off-the-job and on-the-job phases to assist with apprenticeship progression towards qualification is being implemented. At this stage it is not possible to provide a timeline for completion, but it is a priority to further grow the training capacity to ensure apprentices are trained within their minimum time period.

Under the Further Education and Training Act (2013), SOLAS has statutory responsibility for planning, funding, and co-ordinating Further Education and Training (FET) in Ireland. My officials have referred your query to SOLAS and they have advised the applicant is likely to be called for Phase 4 in early January.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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1055. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if apprentices who are delayed completing their apprenticeships will be compensated (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39559/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The development of further training capacity is being prioritised. We will continue to monitor the National Waiting Lists against apprentices currently waiting to be called to their Phase 4, off-the-job training?

Where an apprentice is, through no fault of their own, delayed in training, they can avail of a higher off-the-job training allowance while training. For example, an apprentice delayed at phase 2 off-the-job will receive a phase 4 training allowance. This practice may also apply to apprentices who have been delayed for phase 4 and phase 6 training.