Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh for her question. Increasing the number of people availing of apprenticeships is a key priority for me and my Department. The Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025 sets out the vision for apprenticeships. This includes new ways of structuring, funding and promoting apprenticeships to make them more accessible to employers and, crucially, to learners.

To date the programmes on offer through this model have expanded to address areas of skills shortages such as engineering, technology, logistics and fintech. The development of new apprenticeship programmes is intended to help deliver on the commitments made in the programme for Government to support and drive the economy while addressing the skills requirements identified in the economy. This is evidenced by the variety of apprenticeship programmes now available, totalling 66 programmes. Indeed, eight new programmes were launched over 2020 and 2021, despite pandemic restrictions and I want to acknowledge and thank all those who made that possible. A further four programmes were launched in 2022, meaning that 12 new programmes were launched between 2020 and 2022. An additional 12 programmes across technology, engineering, farming, horticulture and hospitality are planned for launch this year, with a further 12 behind that in various stages of development.

We passed amendments in this House to the Industrial Training Act of 1967 as part of the Higher Education Authority Act 2022 and this widened the scope for new apprenticeship programmes even further in an expanded range of sectors, including in agriculture.

Under budget 2023 an additional €30 million in funding was secured for apprenticeships. This will provide for 4,500 new registrations across both craft and consortia-led programmes. A further €400,000 is provided for social inclusion measures to help make the apprenticeship population more representative of the general population.

In 2022, we saw 8,286 registrations and an apprenticeship population of 26,000. I am really encouraged to say that so far this year, we have seen 1,301 new registrations to the end of February. That represents an increase of 30% on the same two months of last year.

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