Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I hope the reply will be of use to the Deputy. The Department has placed an unrelenting focus on the area of apprenticeships. One of the first actions the Minister, Deputy Harris, and I took was to publish a dedicated action plan for apprenticeships to drive this important reform. The impact has been clear. The growth in apprenticeships in recent years has been significant. Since 2021, more than 22,000 people have started their journey as apprentices. Craft apprenticeship registrations for 2022 and 2021 were totalled 13,254, an increase of almost 40% on the preceding two years.

This increased demand has posed challenges for the system at a time it has been dealing with the impact of Covid-19. At the end of September, 5,345 apprentices were waiting longer than six months to access off-the-job training. Of those, 5,194 were at phase 2, while the remainder were at phases 4 and 6.

In budget 2024, we have received a €67 million investment in the apprenticeship system. This will enable growth in the craft apprenticeship training system from 13,000 in 2022 to more than 16,000 places in 2024. That represents an increase of almost 25%. This will allow SOLAS, the National Apprenticeship Office, NAO, and the education and training boards, ETBs, together with staff representatives, to work intensively with our Department to deliver the required additional apprenticeship training capacity to ensure the reductions waiting times, in particular for phase 2 training. The Department holds weekly meetings with stakeholders in the area and the Minister and I will meet SOLAS and the NAO again next week to discuss the impact of the budget investment.

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