Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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558. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of new apprentice registrations by construction apprenticeships in bricklaying, carpentry, joinery, construction plant fitting, electrical, painting and decorating, plastering, stonecutting, stonemasonry, wood machinists and wood manufacturing in each of the years 2020 and 2021, in tabular form. [10917/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In 2021, a record 8,607 new apprentices were registered in the apprenticeship system. This is an increase of over 38% in comparison to 2020. 6,955 registrations were in craft apprenticeships, and largely in the construction sector. There were 1,652 registrations on the newer, post-2016 programmes. At the end of 2021, the overall apprentice population was 24,212.

Regarding the deputy’s question on new apprentice registrations by construction apprenticeships in each of the years 2020 and 2021, the attached table shows registrations for both 2020 and 2021 in each of the apprenticeships the deputy has referenced.

The Covid related lockdowns in 2020 had a large impact on craft registrations with a total of 4377 new craft apprentices registering compared to 5271 craft registrations in 2019. However craft registrations recovered strongly in 2021 with overall total of 6955 registrations. Regarding the specific apprenticeship registrations that the deputy referenced in her question, registrations rose from 3295 in 2020 to 5262 in 2021.

Details attached in tabular form, as requested .