Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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213. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills to outline the reason for the lack of apprenticeships in areas such as mechanics and HGV; if he will provide a list of the 26 apprenticeship programmes announced during 2017; the locations of these; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3157/18]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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As the deputy is aware, the Apprenticeship Council is currently overseeing the expansion of the apprenticeship system in Ireland into a range of new sectors of the economy. The Council has now made two calls for apprenticeship proposals inviting consortia of enterprise, professional bodies and education and training providers to submit proposals for apprenticeship programmes to be developed to meet identified skill needs in their sector.

Following the Council’s first call for proposals in 2015 a proposal for a HGV Driver Apprenticeship, with the Irish Road Haulage Association as industry lead, is currently in development and is scheduled to get underway later this year. This programme, which is 3 years in duration, will lead to a level 5 qualification on the National Framework of Qualifications.

Resulting from last year's second call for proposals, last month, I announced 26 new apprenticeship proposals to be further developed into national apprenticeship programmes, including a proposal for a Logistics Associate Apprenticeship, with the Freight Transport Association Ireland as industry lead. This programme, which is 2 years in duration, will lead to a level 6 qualification on the National Framework of Qualifications. It is estimated that the development process will take between 12 and 15 months.

These apprenticeship proposals approved for further development include detail on the wider breadth of the delivery of the apprenticeships and a commitment to the delivery of off-the-job training on a national basis with the appropriate resources and facilities. As consortia further progress their proposals, further detail will become available. A list of the 26 proposals is set out in the following table.

With regard to apprenticeships in mechanics, there are a number of apprenticeships currently on offer in the area such as motor mechanic, heavy vehicle mechanic and agricultural mechanic. Details of these and all other apprenticeships currently on offer can be found at www.apprenticeship.ie.