James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

This came to my attention about a month ago. I addressed it in the Chamber shortly after that. That funding pressure arises from apprentices being in the system for longer than was ever anticipated because of backlogs that arose previously. They are on an incremental scale so, as they remain in the system, they become eligible for higher rates. This means there was a requirement for greater funding than had been allocated. I have written to SOLAS. I wrote to the chair and I am also meeting the board. I have instructed that no apprenticeship programme should be cancelled as a result of this. It is not good enough. We cannot allow this situation to arise again. It is unfortunate that we had a backlog in the first place but we cannot have any further backlogs because it is so important to overall societal and Government priorities, including construction, green skills and the rest of the 77 areas of apprenticeships we now have, that we allow learners to progress through the system as rapidly as possible. I understand some ETBs are deferring places rather than cancelling them but I believe any apprentices who have been called will take up that call and progress. We may see some slippage in a couple of courses, however. It is regrettable but this is something I am working through. I have engaged with the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, with his Department and directly with SOLAS to try to address the matter.

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