Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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139. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will re-examine his decision to require apprentices to fund the part of their apprenticeship when they attend college as this will have a serious impact on participation rates in apprenticeships. [2321/14]

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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141. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to reverse the fees imposed on apprentices for off the job training. [2338/14]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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153. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will reverse the budget 2014 decision to impose a new training fee on apprentices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2343/14]

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 139, 141 and 153 together.

This contribution has been levied by Institutes of Technology in respect of apprentices since 2004, with FÁS/SOLAS paying 70% of the contribution and apprentices themselves paying the remainder. As part of Budget 2014, SOLAS will cease making this payment to the Institutes of Technology and apprentices themselves will pay the full pro rata Annual Student Contribution.

The charge is €833 for the vast majority of apprentices scheduled on an off the job phase in an Institute of Technology in the academic year 2013/14, but is more than this for a small number of apprentices attending phases that are longer than the typical 10-11 weeks.

Apprentices will pay the same contribution as students, apportioned for the time they spend in the Institutes. Unlike students, apprentices are paid a training allowances by SOLAS for phases of their training spent in Institutes of Technology. This allowance is equivalent to the wages they receive from their employers for on the job phases and is unaffected by the budgetary changes. Although apprentices are not eligible to receive student grants, the value of their training allowance would be greater than the maintenance available under the student grant scheme.

This decision was taken against a difficult budgetary background and there is no scope to re-visit it.