James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Let us consider the result of the measures I spoke about, the additional €67 million, the subsequent €77 million, the additional 110 instructors and the 80 instructors converted onto different types of contracts bringing an additional 190 instructors into the system. This has meant that craft training places have increased by 43%. That brought places from 5,600 at the end of 2023 when the backlog was identified to more than 8,000 places in 2025, that is, in the current year. The Deputy mentioned people waiting for periods. The number of craft apprentices now waiting for more than six months for the phase 2 off-the-job training has actually fallen by almost 80%, from 5,319 in October 2023 to 1,140 in February 2025. That is a decrease of some 5,500 to roughly just over 1,000. That is a significant 80% drop. I do want to give some credit to the system for working through that.

With regard to people dropping out I will have to interrogate those figures and see the situation there. We are in a period of full employment in a burgeoning economy and people have many options. Some may choose to pursue other options at that stage.

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