Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy and I acknowledge her support for the work that we are all trying to achieve in terms of apprenticeships, and the huge potential that there is to expand the apprenticeship offering in Ireland. We now have 67 apprenticeship programmes. We also want to put it up in lights as another way of getting a qualification after school; getting a good well-paid job and trying to address the skills needs that we have in this country particularly around construction, housing, climate and the green economy.

ETBs play a pivotal role in the apprenticeship system and we recognise their importance, because they continue to be at the heart of the delivery model. In 2023, additional funding of €13 million was provided to support up to 5,000 additional training places across further and higher education and, as a result, almost 9,000 registrations are forecast for 2023. This is quite significant: if we can hit the 9,000, it will be the highest number ever of registered apprentices in Ireland. Some 6,500 of these places will be on the craft programmes. This again underlines the critical role of ETBs as key providers of apprenticeship training and craft training in particular.

Research published last December shows that 30,000 additional craft apprentices are required by 2030 to help achieve the goals under Housing for All, climate action and retrofitting. The apprenticeship growth being funded this year closely involves ETBs in delivering these goals.

In addition, significant work is under way to address the backlog in craft apprenticeships accessing off-the-job training, which built up during the pandemic. The majority of these apprentices are waiting to access phase 2 training, which occurs in ETB centres. SOLAS has worked with ETBs to increase training capacity via capital developments: having to physically expand workshops; additional instructors and innovative delivery models. They have made significant progress in reducing waiting times. I thank the instructors and staff in the ETBs. They genuinely went above and beyond and I am not sure that we fully appreciate how much they did to help us with additional sessions and the likes to get through that.

Progress does continue to be made as additional capacity comes on stream. It is expected that the phase 2 backlog will be brought in line with normal waiting periods by the end of 2023 and, therefore, the Covid lag should be gone by the end of the year. I am confident that the strong growth in apprenticeships will continue to be achieved in line with our overall objectives.

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