Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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We talk about apprenticeships all of the time and I am very concerned about this area. For the past two years I have been highlighting issues with the inability of apprentices to obtain access to off-the-job training. Even when they can access the training, it is often on the other side of the country. I have consistently warned that the backlog in the system would impact new registrations.

It seems from the documents that the registration number was 7,500 although recent reports in the media put it at 8,300. Could the Minister of State confirm the total number of registrations in 2022? Why has the number of new apprentice registrations started going backwards?