Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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35. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the expenditure measures that his Department has taken to reskill and retrain those who have been affected in their employment as a result of Covid-19; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31031/22]

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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Our key response to assist those adversely impacted by the pandemic were those measures introduced in the July 2020 Jobs Stimulus and reinforced in Budget 2021 to upskill and reskill individuals and businesses. Collectively, these measures provided funding for 50,000 education and training places.

Within the further education and training sector, the Skills to Compete initiative delivered through ETBs, working in tandem with INTREO offices, Regional Skills Fora, and Enterprise Ireland, supports those who have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic, to re-enter the workforce. The funding provided for 21,000 places on skills to Compete courses. An additional 8,550 places were funded through Skillnet Ireland supported programmes, including via Skills Connect, which was launched to enable people reskill quickly, secure new roles within their sector, or undertake innovative conversion courses to access job opportunities in new sectors.

The Apprenticeship Incentivisation Scheme was introduced to support the continued recruitment and retention of apprentices across apprenticeship programmes during the COVID-19 period. With provision for 10,000 places, the scheme ended for new applications on 31st December 2021. Specific provision was also made available for 1,500 places under retrofit training and 1,600 places on the Skills to Advance initiative, led by SOLAS, which aims to equip employees with the skills to progress in their current job, or to take advantage of new job opportunities.

In the higher education sector, the funding supported over 8,000 additional places on Springboard+ and HCI Pillar 1, modular programmes and post-graduate places under the Postgraduate Skills Provision programme.

My Department has continued to invest in the 2022 Budget across these measures to strengthen the financial position of universities and provide capacity for extra students and support and develop apprenticeships by funding a new employer apprenticeship grant and establishment of a new Apprenticeship Office. We are also investing to upskill people in the key skills areas of the economy, such as for climate and low carbon initiative and we continue to support the upskilling of employees via Skillnet Ireland and Skills to Advance.