Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht teacht os comhair an choiste. I have limited time to try to find out some things I did not fully understand from the budget, if that is possible. I want to understand what money is being deployed where and that kind of thing. I will start with the €77.4 million investment for apprenticeships. All investment in apprenticeships is obviously welcome and positive. We want to address the backlogs to make sure apprentices do not continue being paid less for longer.

I understood there were 6,500 craft registrations in 2023. Am I correct? It is just that the 6,800 announced on budget day confused me because the Minister said he wanted to grow the craft apprenticeship system to 6,800 registrations, but I understood it to be 6,500 in 2023. That would only be an increase of 300. I imagine I am missing something here.