Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, to the House.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this matter. It focuses not exclusively on general apprenticeships but on cross-Border apprenticeships. This follows on from someone in Queen’s University Belfast, QUB, sending me a copy of a speech delivered in that university by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris. It was an impressive speech, which I acknowledge. The speech was given in the context of the one island approach, which is something the Government has promoted. The policy is being driven by the Taoiseach and he is very committed to it.

This issue centres on how we can use cross-Border connectivity and synergies and relationships in respect of developing an apprenticeship programme that spans the two jurisdictions. I acknowledge the enormous work that went into the apprenticeship action plan drawn up by the Minister. When he puts his mind to anything, he is driven, committed and determined. I acknowledge that as well. In all his announcements in this context since, and particularly in his speech in QUB, he has talked about his ambition to create an additional 10,000 new apprenticeship places every year up to 2025.

I was particularly interested in his reference, and I am particularly interested in hearing more about this detail if it is not available today, to a new funding call under the PEACE PLUS programme to do with collaboration for cross-Border apprenticeships. He is committed to doing this and to sourcing the funding for this programme. There is great potential for this type of programme. We must work together and encourage apprenticeships. I am old enough to remember when people left the tech with a group certificate and other people laughed at them. Those people with the group certificate went on, walked around and met construction workers, tilers, electricians, plasterers and stonemasons to beg for an apprenticeship, or to serve their time with them, as it was then called. Indeed, apprentices then did not get very much money. Most of them, however, went on to be successful entrepreneurs and businesspeople in the construction sector. Therefore, I value and respect apprenticeships. We learn at different levels. We are not all academic and we can also learn through a hands-on approach on-site, be that in stonemasonry, construction, glazing or whatever. A noble way to learn a trade and a profession is to serve time with a master of a craft. It enables people to have a craft and a skill that they can use to bring in an income for themselves and their family. Equally, it allows people to contribute to meeting a need.

In that regard, we are aware that we have a real issue with a shortage of construction workers and, therefore, I wish to examine the issues relating to work-based learning on-site. We all acknowledge its importance. I also wish to have a greater focus placed on supporting apprenticeships, as well as on providing greater support for employers in this context and on how we can match apprenticeships with employers. More important, however, is the question of how we can address the current shortage of skills, particularly in the construction sector and, specifically, in retrofitting. We need apprenticeships in these areas now. It is all good news in respect of the apprenticeship programme for the Government. The PEACE PLUS initiative for cross-Border collaboration on apprenticeships, North and South, is exciting. This is how we have to build relationships between the North and South. We must find common needs and common issues and work with them. I do not doubt the Minister’s commitment in this regard.

I ask that the Minister of State bring back to the Minister an issue to be reviewed in the context of apprenticeships, which is the green certificate in the context of agricultural training. There is a great shortage of people in the agricultural sector. I spoke about Teagasc and agricultural training here some months ago. I received an email from a woman who had major concerns regarding her apprenticeship with Teagasc, where she was serving her green certificate time. We have issues in this regard, and we must continuously evaluate apprenticeship programmes. I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House, and if he could shed some light on these issues, or perhaps send on some follow-up information, that would be very helpful.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for his question on these important issues for the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. He mentioned two important words in this contribution, namely that he "values" and "respects" apprentices. I could not agree more. We are moving into a space now where we need to value and respect them much more.The Senator's analogy with growing up was very appropriate and I share his view on it.

As part of the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021 to 2025, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, committed to cross-Border apprenticeship programmes to enhance Ireland's ability to respond to skills needs with an all-island ability in an all-island economy. Ireland operates as a small, open economy and the ability of our graduate apprentices to operate on an international stage is to be encouraged. The opportunity for international mobility as a component of apprenticeships programmes will be piloted during the lifetime of this plan, either in the workplace or in education and training institutions. The Government's commitment to cross-Border apprenticeships is reaffirmed in the revised National Development Plan, NDP, 2021 to 2030, which sets out an enhanced level of ambition for collaborative cross-Border public investment to build a more connected, prosperous and sustainable island for all the communities and traditions that share the island.

Under the NDP, the Government, through the Department, will work with our Northern Ireland and UK counterparts and other education and research stakeholders to support more strategic co-operation, realise more opportunities and shape further and higher education and research sectors that will meet the needs and capacity of this shared island into the future. This will include enhanced co-operation on higher and further education through collaborative approaches to programmes such as developing cross-Border apprenticeships.

A programme area skills development strategy is being developed as part of the PEACE PLUS programme strategy. This is aimed at delivering economic regeneration and transformation and identifying areas for investment. It will help to address evident skills gaps and result in increased productivity and employment as well as cross-Border labour mobility. It will also enable cross-Border collaboration between education and training-based providers to address existing and emerging skills gaps and opportunities for reskilling in key disciplines such as ICT and digital, science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics, or STEAM, the green economy, entrepreneurship, leadership and management, among other key areas, and promote uptake of apprentices in key areas such as ICT.

We will shortly launch a new funding call for PEACE PLUS, with collaboration on cross-Border apprenticeships as part of that. Working together, we have already identified one area, construction, where we can look to collaborate. We will explore this in detail in 2023.

Apprenticeships are a demand-driven, employer-led offering based on a contract of employment between the apprentice and the employer. The number of apprenticeships in any specific sector is, therefore, determined directly by employer provision. The Department is working with SOLAS examining the demand for construction workers between now and 2030.

The Senator spoke about difficulties with green certificates for agricultural training days. I will raise that matter with the Minister.

In recent years, the annual intake in construction-related apprenticeships has been steadily increasing. In 2020, there was a total of 3,370 construction apprenticeship registrations. This rose by 60% to 5,400 construction apprenticeship registrations in 2021 and to date in 2022, there have been 2,137 such registrations. As I said, when I visit community training centres they have useful trades. I hope they make plenty of money because they are providing a great resource to an ever-growing Irish economy.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for his detailed response. The takeaway from that is that the funding call for PEACE PLUS is about to be announced. I welcome that. The PEACE PLUS cross-Border initiative is amazing and fantastic and we need to tap into it. We can mutually benefit from that cross-Border relationship. I also acknowledge the ongoing work with SOLAS. That is important and I am delighted to hear it.

The Minister of State also mentioned healthcare assistant practitioners, of which we have a shortage. That is a noble profession with skills and we need to acknowledge and support them with respect to training and pay.

Before coming to the House, I had a call from a person in the construction education sector who told me there were now approximately 9,000 students doing leaving certificate construction studies. I do not want to hold the individual in question to that exact number. These students chose to do construction studies at secondary level, which indicates there is an interest. I ask that we ascertain whether students leaving secondary school having taken construction studies are being matched up to apprenticeships. It is not a question of it being a job. We want people who are motivated and keen. I ask that synergy or connectivity between the Department and the secondary school sector be explored further.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator. I take on board his views on those leaving secondary school. He said there were up to 9,000 students taking construction studies and it is great that they are considering the trades. The Senator also noted how hospitality and healthcare are.

Education and training relevant to the skills needed in the construction sector and the green economy is delivered across the full remit of the tertiary system and through mainstream education and training, as well through specific programmes such as Springboard, the human capital initiative and Skillnet.

In the area of healthcare, the advanced assistant practitioner is managed by an apprenticeship consortium, which includes representatives from the private, home and community care sectors and currently has an active population of 45. There are also discussions between officials at the Department and counterparts in the Department of Health, the HSE and Tusla on the development of other apprenticeship programmes in the healthcare sector. Among the 65 apprenticeships currently available, 25 are craft-related and, more specifically, include housing, retrofitting-related programmes, green skills activities relating to a range of construction and engineering-related programmes, including plumbing, carpentry and joinery, and the recently launched wind turbine maintenance technician programme. There are, therefore, many different apprenticeships and that is very much to be welcomed.