Noel Rock (Dublin North West, Fine Gael)
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175. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the State has adopted the European Commission's European alliance for apprenticeships, which was a key element of the youth guarantee; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11946/17]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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The European Alliance for Apprenticeships Alliance was launched in July 2013 with a joint declaration by the European Social Partners, the European Commission and the Presidency of the Council of the EU. This was followed by a Council Declaration by EU countries.

Ireland made a commitment through the alliance to review and expand its apprenticeship system.  An independent group produced the Review of Apprenticeship Training in Ireland, which was published in 2014.  The review contained a range of recommendations to expand participation of apprenticeship, including the establishment of an Apprenticeship Council.  The Council was established in November 2014 and immediately began work on a call for proposals for the development of new enterprise-led apprenticeships.  The call issued in January 2015 and over 80 proposals were received from industry stakeholders working with education and training providers.  The Apprenticeship Council has been working with the proposers of these new programmes to develop them in sustainable apprenticeships that can be delivered on a nationwide basis. The funding for planned and forecast expansion in 2017 will see an additional €20 million provided. 

An Action Plan to expand Apprenticeship and Traineeship in Ireland 2016-2020 was launched on the 26th January 2017 and sets out how state agencies, education and training providers and employers will work together to deliver on the Programme for Government commitments on the expansion of apprenticeship and traineeship in the period to 2020. 50,000 people will be registered on apprenticeship and traineeship programmes over the lifetime of the Action Plan, a doubling of current activity.  The Plan sets out how we will manage the pipeline of new apprenticeships already established through the first call for proposals and also commits to a new call for apprenticeship proposals in 2017. 

The Insurance Practitioner Apprenticeship, the first of the new programmes developed through the Apprenticeship Council’s first call for proposals, launched in September 2016 and an Industrial Engineer Apprenticeship commenced in November 2016.  13 further new apprenticeships are due to launch later this year in various sectors including medical devices, polymer processing and financial services.