Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Flaherty for the question and for highlighting the important issue of apprenticeships.

I am pleased to say that significant progress is being made in realising the ambition for apprenticeship set out in the Action Plan for Apprenticeship, which I was pleased to publish in April of last year. The further development and mainstreaming of apprenticeship in Ireland through the creation of a single unified apprenticeship system has a key role to play in meeting Ireland's skills needs in a manner that presents a valued proposition for apprentices and employers alike.

Key to the delivery set out in the action plan is a new organisational architecture, including, as the Deputy has alluded to, the creation of a new national apprenticeship office and a national apprenticeship alliance. The office will have responsibility for all aspects of management, oversight and development of the apprenticeship system and for implementing our action plan. Under the action plan the national apprenticeship office will exercise, on a shared and conjoint basis, the relevant legislative and funding functions of SOLAS and the HEA in this area. The new national apprenticeship office will deliver additional practical supports and information for employers and apprentices seeking to engage with apprenticeships. I am delighted to inform the Deputy that Dr. Mary-Liz Trant, who has extensive senior experience in education and training, has now been appointed as the first director of the office. She is now providing the leadership required to address the next stage in the office's development, and I thank her for that. This includes finalising the work programme, the staffing allocations and the development and implementation of solid governance and financial arrangements, aligned with our action plan. I am also pleased to inform the Deputy that a sum of €1 million has been allocated for the first year, 2022, of the national apprenticeship office's operation to allow it to establish, to staff up and to begin its work.

I am also pleased to tell the Deputy that the success of what has been a national effort under way to promote apprenticeship as a career option can be seen in the fact that last year saw the highest number ever of registered apprentices in our country, at 8,607. That is a 40% increase on the number for 2019, which was the last full year before the Covid pandemic, so the last comparable year. Last year 8,607 people put up their hands and said, "I want to be an apprentice." We need to build on that to meet the skills needs of our country.

See this speech in context