Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I would like to thank Senator O'Loughlin for her question on this very important issue for the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. Apprenticeship is a demand-driven educational and training programme, which aims to develop the skills of an apprentice in order to meet the needs of industry and the labour market. Apprenticeship has undergone transformation over the past six years. The importance of apprenticeships in society, both now and into the future, has never been more apparent than it is today.

The Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025 was launched in April 2021 and sets out new ways of structuring, funding and promoting apprenticeships to make apprenticeship accessible to employers and learners. The actions set out in the plan seek to deliver on a target of 10,000 apprenticeship registrations across a wide range of programmes each year by 2025, thereby fulfilling a key commitment in our programme for Government. Some 25 of the 66 apprenticeship programmes are craft. These experienced a marked increase in interest over the past four years, accounting for more than 80% of the apprentice population. Given the practical nature of off-the-job training for craft apprentices, the Covid-related shutdown of on-site learning, or block release, had a significant impact on their ability to access off-the-job training. Consortia-led apprenticeships were not delayed to the same extent but may have had disruption - for instance, in hospitality programmes.

Craft apprenticeship programmes are demand-led. There are no restrictions on the number of apprentices that can be registered in any single year. Last year saw a record 8,607 registrations overall. This is an increase of nearly 40% compared to 2019, the last normal year, of which 6,955 were craft registrations. Strong registrations are continuing this year. SOLAS, the HEA and education and training providers work together to deliver craft, off-the job training places, and have worked closely to change training delivery. The programmes with the longest waiting lists - electrical, plumbing and carpentry - have been reformed. These changes are now running through the system with increased numbers of apprentices being called to off-the-job training. In addition, all classes which had been running at half capacity under social distancing measures are now back at their full intake.

To ensure that the remainder of the Covid-19 backlog is cleared and the system has the capacity to meet the training needs of rapidly increasing numbers of apprentices, expansion is being funded. For example, capital funding of €20 million was provided in 2020 to extend and upgrade facilities. Expansion is continuing in 2022, with further major investment in workshops and staff planned for this year and beyond. Two large training hubs dedicated to electrical training are being developed for the next three years. Electrical, plumbing, and carpentry programmes are expanding across further and higher education. Electrical workshops are being developed under Kilkenny and Carlow ETB and a further training facility is being developed in Donegal. There is a call for additional phase 2 capacity in craft programmes, including carpentry, plumbing and refrigeration. There is also the expansion of electrical apprenticeships in ATU Donegal and MTU Kerry.

An additional €30 million in once-off funding was secured for apprenticeship in 2023 to help expansion of the system and support the Government's Housing for All and climate goals. Top level data for the end of October has just become available. It shows that 4,937 apprentices are waiting more than six months for their off-the-job training. There has been significant progress made, despite continued strong registrations. For example, nearly 6,000 phase 2 apprentices have completed or commenced their training. Nearly 1,300 more will be trained by year end. More than 7,000 phase 4 and 6 apprentices have completed or are progressing their training and nearly 3,000 more commenced training in September.

Officials in the Department are in continuous engagement with SOLAS, the HEA and other partners. As strong registrations on craft programmes continue, SOLAS is working, and will continue to work, to provide further places to address high numbers of apprentices needing off-the-job places.