John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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236. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to bring young persons out of unemployment through development of and access to apprenticeships to support young persons with fewer opportunities and qualifications in view of recent figures released by the National Youth Council that show thousands of young persons aged 26 years and under have been unemployed for a year or more; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42330/18]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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This Government is committed to doubling the number of people on an apprenticeship programme by 2020 and expanding the apprenticeship model into new sectors of the economy. Arising from our two calls for apprenticeship proposals in 2015 and 2017 sixteen new apprenticeships have now been developed in a range of new occupations, including financial services, engineering, ICT, hospitality, logistics and accounting. Further new apprenticeships will get underway later this year and throughout 2019 in a variety of sectors including construction, engineering, horticulture and agriculture.

As well as developments in new apprenticeships, as the employment and economic situation continues to improve, we have seen strong growth in registrations across the craft trades nationally also with 4,508 new registrations in 2017, which represents a 20% increase on 2016. The upward trend continues this year with 3,504 new registrations recorded at the end of September, 7% ahead of the same period last year.

In addition, as set out in the Action Plan to Expand Apprenticeship and Traineeship in Ireland, SOLAS is currently reviewing pathways to participation in apprenticeship in a range of underrepresented groups, including the groups referred to by the Deputy. The review will identify any barriers that may exist to participation in an apprenticeship programme. The purpose of the review is to ensure that our national apprenticeship system is more reflective of the range and diversity of our population, more inclusive of diverse backgrounds and abilities and that apprenticeship opportunities are more readily accessible to all. The review will result in the publication of actions in this area in the coming weeks, along with the background research.