John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Lombard for a very interesting question. I read up on coopers and found it astoundingly interesting. I thank him for his very kind words.

Apprenticeships are demand-driven educational and training programmes which aim to develop the skills of an apprentice in order to meet the needs of industry and the labour market. The Government is committed to supporting the increased registration of apprentices across all sectors. A key commitment in the action plan is to expand apprenticeship and traineeship to achieve 9,000 annual new apprenticeship registrations by 2020; almost doubling current levels of activity.

Since the 1970s it is estimated that over 100,000 apprentices have been trained through the Irish system. Over the last number of decades we have seen major changes to our economy and the nature of our employment, and this is reflected in the types of apprenticeships being developed.The Government is currently expanding the range of apprenticeships on offer to meet the identified skill needs of industry. Arising from our first call for apprenticeship proposals in 2015, 11 new apprenticeships have been developed in a wide range of sectors, including financial services, engineering, information and communications technology, ICT, and accounting.

In addition, arising from last year’s second call for proposals, we recently announced 26 new programmes for further development into national apprenticeships across a wide variety of sectors, including construction, engineering, horticulture and agriculture. However, currently there are no proposals resulting from our open calls to develop an apprenticeship in the cooper trade and I will go into that further later. The new programmes, in development, will add to and complement the range of apprenticeships currently on offer. It is estimated that the development process will take 12 to 15 months.

I spoke to the Senator outside the Chamber and he made interesting and forthright remarks regarding trades that go under the radar that could have an impact on our tourism industry. The objective of all apprenticeships is job creation first and foremost and the development of the economy through sustainable jobs and the long-term sustainability of crafts. We have many apprenticeships in the crafts sector. I am very interested in what the Senator said. Having read up on cooperage and the craft involved, the Senator's proposal is a very interesting one.

When we do a call out for apprenticeships a combination of factors is involved, including the involvement of the education and training boards, ETBs, businesses and even the trade union movement which will have an interest and will point to the lack of lack of apprenticeships here and there. Cooperage is one that has not come on our radar. Other apprenticeships such as film animation did not come on our radar until people came forward and said there was an interest in it and we then opened up an apprenticeship on it.

I know the Senator has a great interest in this area. He needs to contact the ETBs about this proposal. An assessment of it needs to be done, with which we can help the Senator, to ascertain if there are people interested in cooperage, and I suspect there will be, as it is a great trade. I can appreciate the value of it in promoting tourism and bringing tourists to see a cooper in action. The Senator might contact the ETBs for information on it. Apprenticeships are worked through the ETBs, while traineeships are done through SOLAS. The Senator could ask the ETBs to do an assessment and he could then contact my Department and we would work on it together to see if there is a need for such a proposal. If the indications were such that an apprenticeship in the cooper trade was necessitated, the Senator would have my assurance that we would do a call out for that.