Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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339. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the full year cost of abolishing apprenticeship fees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36589/18]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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An annual student contribution is levied on all students attending Institutes of Technology, IoTs.  Previously this annual student contribution was paid by FÁS/SOLAS with apprentices themselves paying the part of the contribution relating to examination fees. As part of Budget 2014, SOLAS ceased making payments to IoTs and apprentices pay the full pro rata annual student contribution.

The amount charged to apprentices is calculated on a pro rata basis of the time which they spend in IoTs during the academic year. For craft apprenticeships, this cost would typically be one third of the €3,000 annual student contribution paid by students attending for the full academic year and so amounts to approximately €1,000 per apprentice per period spent in the IoT. 

The cost of not charging the annual student contribution is estimated to be €4.2 million in 2018, although there are no plans to abolish the annual student contribution for apprentices.