Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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567. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated annual cost to the Exchequer of increasing the apprenticeship incentivisation scheme for employers to €5,000, €7,000 and €10,000. [38889/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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The Apprenticeship Incentivisation Scheme (AIS) was a measure implemented to assist apprentices due to the particular challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Similar to other Covid-19 measures, the AIS has ceased.

Under the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021 to 2025, all employers of apprentices receive financial support either through the direct payment of training allowances to craft apprentices during periods of off-the-job training or, in the case of Consortia-led apprenticeship, via the annual €2,000 training grant per apprentice provided to employers.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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568. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated annual cost to the Exchequer of raising the gender-based apprenticeship bursary to €3,000 and lowering the representation threshold to 50%. [38890/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Apprenticeship funding is determined as a part of the annual Estimates process and is provided from the National Training Fund.

As part of the implementation of the national Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025, a €2,666 grant was available to employers in January 2022 on any national apprenticeship programme with a greater than 80% representation of a single gender who employ apprentices on the under-represented gender. It is paid directly to employers in two instalments. €1,333 is payable following completion of 6 months training by the apprentice. The second payment of €1,333 is payable following completion of 18 months training by the apprentice, eligibility is dependent on the gender profile represented by the previous year.

The Department is advised by the National Apprenticeship office who hold the data and administer the bursary that, based on a complete set of 2023 figures and registration, if a 50% threshold was applied, then 65 apprenticeship programmes would be eligible for females and 7 apprenticeship programmes for males.

This would total 1,545 individuals eligible to apply (1,118 female and 427 male based 2023 registrations) for the gender-based bursary for apprenticeship.

Applying an increase from €2,666 to €3,000 and assuming all those eligible applying, then this would pose a cost of c.€4.6 million to the National Training Fund.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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569. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated annual cost to the Exchequer of boosting bursary funding to €500,000 for underrepresented apprentices in education and training boards and technical universities. [38891/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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In 2024, funding of €500,000 has been provided for a bursary for underrepresented apprentices in education and training boards and in higher education institutes. This is called the Access and Inclusion bursary and is administered by the National Apprenticeship Office.

As of April, of this year, the National Apprenticeship Office has paid the Access and Inclusion bursary (€3,000 to each learner) to 42 recipients in the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS), Limerick, who attended 12-week full-time Access to Apprenticeship programme.

16 further learners on the TUS, Limerick programme and 16 to those on the TUS, Athlone, programme are expected to be paid this year, with Munster Technological University planning to commence the rollout of an Access to Apprenticeship programme in January 2025.

This is a significant part of achieving Action 8.3 of the the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025 "Apprenticeship for All”, one of the plans's five overarching objectives, which commits to deliver a bursary programme for apprentices who are experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage and who are from target groups, including lone parents, people with disabilities, Travellers and Roma.