Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister mentioned, there are currently about 67 apprenticeship programmes available throughout the State and the intention is to increase that further. I recognise progress has been made in recent years in expanding the range and typologies of apprenticeships on offer. That is welcome. My mother is from Germany and sometimes it sounds a bit clichéd when we reference the German apprenticeship model and other models, but that is only because it is something of a truism. Why would we not want to look towards those who have a good track record, use apprenticeship models for a whole range of different career paths and career choices, and utilise the concept of not having to do an equivalent to the leaving certificate because there are different types of opportunity out there for good jobs?

Returning to this State, we have two categories of apprenticeship, namely, the craft and the consortia. The former are those most people associate with traditional construction, such as electricians, carpenters, plumbers and so on. The latter are the newer types that began in 2016 and offer broad opportunities in healthcare, biopharma, IT, HR, accountancy, finance, logistics, supply chains, sales, hairdressing, hospitality, food, etc. While are we are making good progress for this category of apprentices, we are not doing as well for our construction-type apprentices. Research published last December shows 30,000 additional apprentices are required by 2030 to help achieve the goals under Housing for All, climate action and retrofitting. As the Minister will be aware, we have not been reaching our targets in recent years. Much like our housing targets, our apprenticeship targets need further ambition and are failing to achieve the limited aspirations we have already set. We will not tackle the housing crisis without having the necessary construction workers, but I realise we are all aware of this. I recognise that additional funding is being provided this year. If I am not mistaken, an additional €13 million will be provided to increase the number of training places. I am interested in hearing how this will be tackled to address the various bottlenecks in the apprenticeship system, given that despite increases in funding and Government strategies to increase the overall numbers, there was a drop of more than 300 apprenticeship registrations last year when compared with 2021.

I hear what the Minister is saying about the need to get schools on board and to get it out there that this is something that provides good jobs and is extremely valuable for our society when we are trying to tackle the likes of the housing emergency. Covid played a part, but there has been an issue with poor apprenticeship uptake since long before the onset of the pandemic. An element of that is due to the financial crash and the fact so many people had to leave our shores. We are still seeing young people leave our shores, including young people qualified in third level and in further education. Young people with qualifications of all the different types are leaving our shores. With the backlogs in accessing on-the-job training it is taking longer for some apprentices to qualify.

As a result, they have a lower income for a longer period. At its peak in August 2021, there were over 11,000 apprentices waiting for their off-the-job training. I recognise that the Minister has managed to reduce that but it stood at almost 5,000 in December and today it is still above 4,600. We really need to clear this backlog. The majority of these apprentices are waiting to access phase 2 training, which occurs in the ETB centres. I have raised the issue with the Minister before of the need to attract qualified tradespeople to become apprenticeship educators. The ETBs will have told the Minister about the difficulty they have in attracting qualified people who can earn significantly more on the building sites. Those who do not want to continue on the building sites find other ways they can earn significantly more than they would working as trainers. I am sure the issue will be raised during the forthcoming public pay talks. That is a matter between Government and the trade unions. It will be interesting to see how it develops.

There needs to be renewed focus at the level of our local authorities and the national development plan. We need to see more craft apprenticeship opportunities. I know from answers to parliamentary questions that the local authorities are making good use of consortia apprenticeships in things like accountancy and cybersecurity, which is welcome. We also need to see more craft apprenticeship opportunities in their capital sections. Each and every one of us will know how long it can take for vacant local authority homes to be refurbished and made available for new tenants. It is an issue that all councils struggle with at different times. It is a huge challenge for housing maintenance issues in my constituency at the moment also. Perhaps we could examine how apprenticeships might help reduce turnaround times. On the national development plan, a report in 2016 recommended that the Government should have social clauses in all public works contracts. They would place an obligation on contractors to create a certain number of apprenticeships when completing construction contracts above a certain value. They are commonplace in other countries but we do not use them enough in a strategic way in the public procurement process, despite desires to the contrary. When I think of the various infrastructure projects set out in the national development plan, there is massive scope for apprenticeship opportunities. I know from work I did previously that they are not frequently used and knowledge of the potential these clauses have is very limited. It is not just a matter of sending out information packs to different councils. It really requires a circular.

There have been a number of announcements this week and in recent weeks which we need to see actively being followed through. We need to see the opportunities being made available, resources provided and targeted towards areas where there are bottlenecks. We know what they are. Accessing more trainers to deal with the backlog is something we could really look at as well, particularly based on what we are hearing about remuneration and competitiveness. The Minister mentioned the financial considerations for those entering apprenticeships, namely the fees and the sub-minimum wage rates. We all want to see more people able to come into apprenticeships. We want people to be able to get through their apprenticeships and go off and work. It has been raised with me on a number of occasions that young people feel trapped. They want to move on with their lives but cannot get the training they need to do so. They are on very little money. It is having a huge impact. All the societal problems we have, the housing crisis, the cost of living, all of that is going to have an impact on those young people as well.

Díreach chun é a rá i nGaeilge freisin, táimid tar éis teacht níos faide ná mar a bhí muid i dtéarmaí na bprintíseachtaí atá ann. Ar ndóigh, tá 67 ann faoi láthair. Tá fadhb le liostaí feithimh. Caithfimid cinntiú go mbeadh a fhios ag chuile dhuine go bhfuil an deis seo ann printíseacht a dhéanamh agus gur féidir leis nó léi jab fíormhaith a fháil agus cabhrú linn ar fad na tithe atá ag teastáil go géar a thógáil agus déileáil leis an easpa infreastruchtúir atá ann. Caithfimid cinntiú go bhfuil na Ranna difriúla ag obair le chéile. Más rud é go bhfuil a fhios againn go bhfuil muid chun an t-uafás airgid a chaitheamh ar thograí infreastruchtúir faoin national development plan, NDP, agus mar sin, ba chóir go mbreathnóimid ar an airgead sin agus an cheist a chur maidir leis an mbealach inar féidir linn é sinn a úsáid chun a chinntiú go bhfuil printíseachtaí ann don dream óg sa cheantar ina bhfuil an t-airgead sin á chaitheamh. Más áit iargúlta é, ba chóir go mbeadh an deis sin acu agus go mbeadh siad in ann fanacht ina gceantar féin. Tá sé sin fíorthábhachtach. Ar ndóigh, caithfimid breathnú ar na daoine sin atá ag fanacht lena bprintíseachtaí a chríochnú. Ciallaíonn sé sin go gcaithfimid a chinntiú go bhfuil a ndóthain daoine ann chun iad a thraenáil. Chomh maith leis sin, caithfimid breathnú ar an airgead atá á fháil acu. Is iad sin an cúpla rud a gcaithfimid breathnú orthu agus déileáil leo.

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