John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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Apprenticeship is a demand driven educational and training programme which aims to develop the skills of an apprentice in order to meet the needs of industry and the labour market. Consequently, the number of apprentices being registered is determined by employers in the sector.

As part of the ongoing review of apprenticeship in Ireland SOLAS has conducted standards development and programme reviews for 23 of the existing craft trade apprenticeship programmes. As part of this review and in response to the lack of sufficient numbers registering for both the tiling and the plastering apprenticeships it was decided to amalgamate both programmes. I am informed by SOLAS that in September 2015 it was decided in collaboration with industry to endorse the development of a single apprenticeship consisting of skills from both programmes.

The draft programme was developed in collaboration with industry representation from both the plastering and tiling sectors. The skills that were developed in the floor and wall tiling programme were fully included in the newly revised programme.

The new amalgamated programme is entitled the Plastering Apprenticeship and is subject to Quality and Qualifications Ireland validation. I am informed by SOLAS that the programme was submitted to QQI for validation in July 2018 and is expected to be validated in Q1 2019.