Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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77. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of new apprenticeship registrations in 2022; the number of people waiting over six months to access off-the-job training; if the backlog is believed to be impacting registration numbers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6902/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Apprenticeships are employer-led demand-driven programmes that develop the skills of an apprentice in order to meet the labour market needs. The number of new apprenticeship registrations is, therefore, primarily determined by the level of recruitment of apprentices by employers.

2022 saw a total of 8,286 registrations and a population of 26,325 at year end.

This strong growth in apprenticeship training is very welcome and indeed essential to meeting construction and green skill needs. The apprenticeship system has however been engaging with meeting this greatly increased demand while recovering from the impact of the extended closures of the training system during Covid.

These closures created increased waiting lists for off-the-job training phases of craft apprenticeships. There will always be a degree of waiting, due to factors such as term commencement dates in higher education institutions. However, from a usual number of some 3,600 apprentices waiting for placements, there was a peak of over 11,000 by August 2021.

Several decisive measures were undertaken to address this, including an additional intake of apprentices, additional instructor posts, amended phase duration and additional physical capacity in training facilities and higher education institutions.

These measures have made a significant impact on the waiting lists. Based on end of January monthly figures, there were 4,802 apprentices waiting longer than 6 months to access off the job training. With the commitment of a further €17.2m in capital investment into 2023, increased capacity will continue to be provided and further progress made in reducing waiting lists as much as possible.