Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue but also for the work he did in his time in the Department of Education to promote apprenticeships. It has helped us get to this place. As he will be aware, apprenticeship is a demand-driven, employer-led system that aims to develop the skills of an apprentice in order to meet the needs of industry and the labour market. In light of that employer-led model of apprenticeship, the level of apprenticeship opportunities and associated advertising for those roles in any particular sector are obviously based on the current demand that exists in that sector for apprentices. A key deliverable under the Action Plan for Apprenticeship, 2021 to 2025 is to increase this demand by addressing barriers to employer participation. In this context, I introduced an annual grant for employers who employ apprenticeships in one of the post-2016 apprenticeships and thereby extending financial support to all apprentice employers for the first time.

SOLAS has advised my Department that there are 66 open jobs currently advertised on the Generation Apprenticeship website. Nearly 1,000 jobs have been advertised since its launch in October 2020. A total of 2,881 employers have been set up on the apprenticeship jobs portal to date. There is a national campaign underway via the Generation Apprenticeship campaign to drive awareness of apprenticeship opportunities across a broad audience of stakeholders. I am pleased to say traffic on apprenticeship.iehas increased very significantly as a result of the changes we made to the CAO website. There have been over 30,000 click-throughs from the CAO website, which means more than 30,000 people went to the CAO site and then went directly to the apprenticeship website. Both campaigns promote a number of key initiatives under the Generation Apprenticeship banner. They are targeting the employer audience regarding the gender bursary and employer grant, as well as targeting students, parents and guidance counsellors regarding opportunities in apprenticeship.

Long story short, the Deputy is right. I am looking at how we can link some supports we provide to the public advertising of apprenticeships. There needs to be equity with people's ability to access information on this. We are also working very hard on public sector apprenticeships and we have a target of 750 public sector apprenticeships by 2025. That will increase the opportunity the Deputy refers to about the availability of apprenticeships in local areas.

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