Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)

I thank the Deputy. The main area we are looking at there is the area of hairdressing. It is the one area where that would have increased. Gender balance in craft apprenticeships has increased significantly since the launch of the action plan, with the number of female craft apprenticeships more than doubling from 260 to 533, an increase of exactly 105%. I will be honest with the Deputy. When you start from a low base, having a big increase is not that difficult. The gender bursary has made a real difference and we can see from the figures that it increased from 260 in 2021 to 537 in 2024. At the end of June this year, 533 women were in that sector. Those are real signs of progress in getting more and more women involved.

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