David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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289. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to outline his plans to introduce a new apprenticeship scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13370/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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A comprehensive review of the Irish apprenticeship system was undertaken by an independent review group that reported in December 2013. Following consideration of their recommendations and consultation with stakeholders on implementation arrangements, an Apprenticeship Implementation Plan was published in June 2014. A key recommendation of this review was the establishment of an Apprenticeship Council. The Council was established in November 2014 and its first task was to issue a call for proposals for new apprenticeships from consortia of industry bodies and education and training providers. Over 80 proposals were received, all of which were evaluated against a set of criteria.

The Council assigned category 1 status to 25 proposals which were deemed to be at an advanced stage of design, planning and collaboration between education and industry and ready to enter a detailed development phase. The Council is working closely with consortia within this group to develop them into sustainable national apprenticeships. It is envisaged that up to nine of these will be in a position to move to enrolment in 2016 and that the remainder will be rolled out in 2017. The Council is also working with the other consortia to ensure that a strong pipeline of new apprenticeships is in place.

In the Programme for Partnership Government we have committed to double the number of apprenticeships by 2020. We will target over 100 different apprenticeship schemes spread across sectors of the economy and in every region of Ireland. The achievement of this ambitious target will require commitment from a number of key stakeholders including the Apprenticeship Council, SOLAS, the ETBs and Industry and is dependent on strong employer demand.