Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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351. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of electrical, plumbing and carpentry apprentices who completed their course in 2023, broken down by the year in which they first registered for their course, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18500/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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2,583 electrical, plumbing and carpentry apprentices completed their course in 2023, the table below gives the breakdown by the year in which they first registered for their course.

It should be noted that registration may take place on any date, while completion takes place on all days of the year following completion of the mandatory requirements of on-the-job and off-the-job phases. In addition, there may also be a short time between completion of a programme and certification.

The table below therefore represents the number of QQI certifications for 2023 in apprenticeships requested - electrical, carpentry & joinery, plumbing - by their year of apprentice registration. QQI process certifications every two months culminating in six certification runs per annum.

Craft apprenticeships take a minimum of 48 months to complete. Following that there is a period of approximately 3 months to process their certification, depending on QQI timelines. Therefore, apprentices registered in 2018/2019 should expect to complete their apprenticeship and be certified in the 2023/2024 period.

Apprentices in this data set may have paused their apprenticeship, changed employers, or had outstanding assessments leading to a longer completion time. The data set takes account for interruptions to training during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Table 1. QQI Certifications for 2023 by year of registration – Craft apprenticeships