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

About 60 different apprenticeship schemes are available and a further 18 schemes are in development across a range of areas, including some that the Deputy mentioned. I take the Deputy's example about school bus drivers. This is something that I have raised with the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. That is an acute issue because drivers are prohibited from doing this work on reaching 70 years, although that is a separate issue that should be dealt with.

As I said, some €198.4 million is available through the national training fund, which includes the cost of the apprenticeship incentivisation scheme that the Deputy alluded to. In 2021, some €12 million in Covid-related costs for additional classes was provided, compared to an allocation of €169 million the previous year.

See this speech in context