Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To address Senator Dolan's question about apprenticeships, as the committee will be aware, 61 apprenticeship schemes are up and running and a further 18 are in development. They are at various stages in the development process. Members will be aware that there are a number of phases through which an apprenticeship must go to be formalised. We will get the committee a note with an update on the status of each of the apprenticeships in development. We are being contacted continually and are engaging continually with interested parties on the development of new apprenticeships.

I was down in the west, at the Petersburg outdoor education centre in Clonbur, about two weeks where we launched the arboriculture apprenticeship programme, which is tree surgery for people who do not have the Latin skills. There was significant interest in that. It is a real growth sector that is significantly linked to our planning requirements involving climate change and some of the significant weather events we have had to endure over the past number of years where a large number of trees have come down. There is considerable demand for qualified tree surgeons.

I met with a group in Limerick through our mid-west regional skills manager, Joe Leddin, who were interested in progressing an apprenticeship relating to cybersecurity. Many industry players such as Dell are very invested in that. There is a lot going on in terms of development. I received an inquiry recently from a number of golf professionals. Each golf club has a golf professional. Golf professionals are looking at trying to advance an apprenticeship scheme where they take on apprentices. There is a lot of interest. We will provide the committee with an update on the status of what is in development.