Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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188. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his Department and public bodies and agencies that operate under his remit run apprenticeship programmes or are directly engaged in the training of apprentices; if so, the number of apprentices involved; the specialities in which they are being trained; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19582/22]

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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196. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his Department and public bodies and agencies that operate under his remit facilitate internships by students engaged in full-time or part-time further and higher education courses; if so, the number of interns his Department and public bodies and agencies that operate under his remit accept annually; if any or all of these interns receive remuneration of any kind; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20004/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 188 and 196 together.

Neither my Department nor the agencies under its remit are currently directly involved in operating apprenticeship programmes or in training apprentices.

In the recent past, my Department's ICT unit had engaged an apprentice under the Fast Track to IT apprenticeship programme, an apprenticeship scheme for workers in the information technology space.

Enterprise Ireland (EI), in collaboration with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Skills, works to promote the engagement of apprentices by its client companies. EI promotes collaboration between enterprise and the education and training sector on apprenticeship programmes to assist in addressing short and medium term skills needs in the economy.