Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be here to take this important matter raised by Senators Dolan and Murphy. I thank them for tabling it and for working together on what is a really important issue.

The Government's ambition for apprenticeships and further education and training is well known and recognised. Only today we have seen figures that show an 8% increase in the number of apprentices in Ireland this year by comparison with last year. We are about a year ahead of our target in getting 10,000 new apprentices registered each year by 2025. We need to do this. We published a national skills bulletin today that shows where there are acute shortages. In one way, this is a success of full employment, but when there is full employment it is so important to start directing people into training and education to develop skills where needed, and supporting them in doing so. We can talk until the cows come home in this Chamber or the other about building houses but we are not going to build them if we do not meet the need for skills. Therefore, we need people to acquire the skills and take up the apprenticeships, including in respect of green skills and the climate agenda. Having more apprentices is no longer just a nice-to-do thing from a policy point of view; it is crucial and fundamental in meeting the skills needs of our country and providing pathways and different ways of learning, because we do not all learn in the same way. Tertiary education needs to be flexible and agile in this regard.Success in building a strong and effective national apprenticeship system and ensuring our further education and training sector realises its full potential is essential if we are to deliver on key national strategies. I believe the far-reaching decision to establish my Department three years ago with a strong mandate to focus, in particular, on apprenticeships, further education and training and integrated tertiary policy was a key milestone in recognising their crucial role. Apprenticeships and further education and training are two signature examples of that approach being adopted and delivered now in practice through our action plan on apprenticeships, through setting public sector targets for apprentices, and providing financial assistance to help businesses, particularly small- and medium-sized businesses, to take on an apprentice. One strong conclusion that draws from the three years I have had the privilege of being Minister is that the ground has now shifted significantly in terms of the very positive perception and positioning of apprenticeships and further education and training among students, learners, their families, employers and in our wider communities. That we are having this conversation in the Seanad today, and the fact those in Roscommon are asking why they do not have an apprenticeship centre in the town and, which is very heartening, that they are saying they would like one too because they have these skills needs as well and do not want to be left out or left behind, reinforces my conviction that we are on the right path and doing the right things.

As Members know, the Galway-Roscommon Education and Training Board training centre in Galway has been training apprentices since it opened as long ago as 1969. It has eight workshops and, to meet demand, the centre has a continuous year-round intake for electrical apprentices. Galway-Roscommon Education and Training Board will add a further nine electrical workshops over the next six to nine months as it fits out that adjacent building. The first four of these will have apprentices in place at the start of 2024. Remaining workshops will come on stream in the following four months. In regard to a Galway-Roscommon Education and Training Board training centre for County Roscommon, I can inform the Senators that the ETB has submitted a business case to SOLAS in respect of the purchase of a property in County Roscommon for the purpose of providing new apprenticeship capacity. Added to this, there is also the added benefit that it can consolidate existing further education and training provision from other parts of County Roscommon. SOLAS is now appraising the submission against a number of requirements, including our national apprenticeship requirements, climate action-focused planning and the public spending code. SOLAS has now met with Galway-Roscommon Education and Training Board to discuss the proposal in further detail. When this process has been fully completed, it will be submitted to my Department with a recommendation from SOLAS. My Department will then review it.

I will clearly say that I believe this proposal has real merit. I am excited about this proposal. We need more construction workers. More construction workers mean more houses. We need more apprentices. We also need to make apprenticeships easier to take up. That means they have to be local and accessible. It needs to play its full role in terms of regional and rural development. In my view, this proposal ticks all those boxes. We do not need any area of the country to be without apprenticeship provision. I have no intention of leaving County Roscommon behind. I want to work with the Senators to fill this gap. I look forward to visiting County Roscommon to discuss this further.