Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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688. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the annual Exchequer funding provided to enable plumbers to upskill as heat pump installers via apprenticeship training or continuing professional development for qualified plumbers; and the State funding provided for upskilling in this area in 2024 and 2025, in tabular form. [40954/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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The National Retrofit Plan sets a target of installing 400,000 heat pumps into existing homes by 2030.

My Department, working with partners in government departments, state agencies, and the tertiary education sector, has identified the shortage of skilled plumbers as a critical factor in achieving this target.

With this in mind, heat pump technologies have been included in the revised plumbing apprenticeship curriculum, thus ensuring that apprentices have familiarity with these new technologies. In order to upskill and qualify as a heat pump installer, those who have completed a National Craft Certificate can enrol in additional upskilling courses targeted towards heat pump installers.

These upskilling courses are currently provided in five locations – two in the Higher Education sector (Atlantic Technological University and Dundalk Institute of Technology) and three in the Further Education and Training Sector, through the network of NZEB/Retrofit Centres of Excellence, at Laois and Offaly ETB, City of Dublin ETB and Waterford and Wexford ETB.

Regarding provision in the Higher Education sector, the application of funding to specific programmes or for particular purposes from the total allocation provided to institutions by the Higher Education Authority is a matter to be managed by the institutions themselves. However, two courses in Atlantic Technological University have received funding in 2024 through the new Human Capital Initiative Pillar 3 Micro-Credential Learner Fee Subsidy, to subsidise fees for learners across micro-credential courses. As these courses address skills needs in a priority area, they qualify for an 80% subsidy. 15 places have been subsidised on each course, to a total value of €26,400. Full details are provided in the table below.

Regarding the provision of the broader suite NZEB/Retrofit training in the Further Education and Training sector, which includes upskilling courses in domestic heat pump installation, programme development and delivery costs are managed by each ETB and allocated through the existing funding protocol between them and SOLAS.

To further support upskilling and reskilling in this area my Department introduced a pilot heat pump incentivisation scheme for the FET sector in 2024 with an allocation of €150,000 to support continuing professional development for up to 300 qualified plumbers.

This pilot scheme provides plumbers with a cash incentive of up to €500 if plumbers take time off work to upskill as SEAI-registered heat pump installers through ETB-delivered courses. By helping to offset these costs, the pilot scheme aims to allow small and medium contractors with less than 250 employees (including self-employed contractors) to upskill their staff, gain extra capacity in an area that is in increasing demand, and help plumbers to future-proof their careers.

The scheme is open until December and the full impact of the scheme including take-up will be reviewed after that date.