Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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542. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 288 of 21 January 2020, if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the inability of SOLAS to provide apprenticeship placements under current circumstances is resulting in delays of 15-plus months to apprentices receiving the necessary qualifications and that as a result their earnings are being severely affected (details supplied); if his attention has been further drawn to the fact that SOLAS is insisting on paying third-year apprentices the second-year rate of payment due to the delay in attaining the previous year's placements and qualifications; if he will request SOLAS to rectify this payment rate and ensure all third-year apprentices receive the hourly rate they are entitled to when on placements; the number of third-year apprentices in the various trades who are currently receiving lower rates of payment than they would ordinarily receive; his plans to address this loss of income for apprentices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5722/21]

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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Apprenticeship is undertaken under a contract of employment. The rates of pay for the 25 craft apprenticeship programmes are agreed by the partners within the relevant sector, or are set out in Sectoral Employment Orders (Construction Sector and Mechanical Engineering Building Services Contracting Sector). Rates vary between occupations and sectors but in all cases craft apprenticeship rates are expressed as a proportion of the qualified rate, increasing yearly from 33% of the qualified rate in year one to 90% in year four. Payment is also based on attainment of relevant skill, knowledge and competence achieved after successfully completing each phase of training. The most up to date rates are at the following link.

ETBs pay a training allowance to craft apprentices undertaking periods of off-the-job training.  This training allowance is equivalent to the relevant agreed rate of pay and is paid in addition to either a travel or an accommodation allowance. For the period of off-the-job training, apprentices who have experienced a delay in their apprenticeship may be paid a training allowance at a rate which is one point higher than the rate normally assigned to that phase. This payment is in line with SOLAS internal procedures which govern apprenticeship operations and is currently being implemented across each Education and Training Board, Institutes of Technology, and Technological Universities.

The Department, SOLAS and the HEA are working closely with further and higher education providers around the country to add the maximum amount of training capacity possible.  Online learning and opportunities to step up the delivery of blocks of training are all being worked on with the objective of tackling the waiting lists and ensuring that apprentices complete their training as quickly as possible.

https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/debates/questions/supportingDocumentation/2021-02-03_pq542-03-02-21_en.doc