Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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154. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the details of each apprenticeship programme offered; the number of apprenticeships offered in each programme in each of the years 2015 to 2018 and to date in 2019; the number of persons who unsuccessfully sought or applied for apprenticeships; the career areas not covered by the apprenticeship programme; his plans to increase the number of programmes offered in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37016/19]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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SOLAS do not maintain a record of the number of persons that unsuccessfully sought or applied for apprenticeships as apprentices no not apply to become an apprentice through SOLAS. In order to train as an apprentice a person first needs to be recruited by an approved employer. There is no central record of applications to employers for apprenticeship positions as this is part of wider labour market activity.

While the Apprenticeship Council has issued two formal calls for proposals to develop new apprenticeships and Government is promoting apprenticeships heavily through the Generation Apprenticeship campaign, decisions to develop new apprenticeships are taken by groups of employers with reference to the various options open to them to develop the skills needed in their sectors. Employers in Ireland have responded in large numbers to the calls for proposals and apprenticeships are now much more widely available across sectors.For the first time, apprenticeships have become available in recent years in areas such as auctioneering, biopharmachem, insurance, finance, hospitality and food, ICT and logistics, with further programmes in the pipeline in renewable energy, retail, hairdressing and a range of other sectors. These add to the long-standing base of apprenticeship in areas such as construction, motor and engineering.

In all 20 new apprenticeship programmes are available and 36 more are in development. This will give apprenticeship a broad footprint across the economy but of course some sectors will use other options for skills development.

The details of registrations on programmes sought by the Deputy are in the following table.

Registrations for ALL occupations for years 2015-2019 (end of Aug)