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

In budget 2025, we made a significant investment of €77.4 million to grow apprenticeship, a valued option for those who wish to gain a skill or improve their skills across many sectors of the economy. There are currently 77 national apprenticeship programmes available from levels 5 to 10 of the national framework of qualifications, NFQ, across a diverse range of skills from plumbing to sales to cybersecurity. Opportunities exist to advance to further levels in the NFQ. For example, in apprenticeship, there is the opportunity to progress from a civil engineering technician level 6 apprenticeship to a civil engineering level 7 apprenticeship.

We know from the OECD skills strategy for Ireland that the onset of digitisation, climate change and demographic change means the Irish workforce must upskill and reskill throughout their careers. My priority is to ensure the education system can adapt and support the skills needs of the economy into the future. In budget 2025, we announced a €20 million skills package responding to the requirement highlighted in the OECD review of Ireland's skills strategy for investment in workforce development with a particular focus on skills priorities such as digitisation, artificial intelligence, modern methods of construction and offshore wind energy. Micro-qualifications at NFQ levels 4, 5 and 6 are being made available through the SOLAS Skills to Advance initiative, which assists small-and-medium-sized enterprises in developing workforce skills.

The tertiary education system plays a central role in ensuring our graduates from higher education, further education and training and from apprenticeship are equipped with the essential vocational, professional and transversal skills and competencies that will equip them for success in work.

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