Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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39. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will increase wages for apprentices to at least the national minimum wage where they are below that level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6497/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Currently, apprentices are exempted from the right to receive the National Minimum Wage. When the National Minimum Wage was introduced in 2000, it was determined that apprentices would be excluded from the Act in recognition of the unique nature of such apprenticeships and the fact that a long-established practice for determining rates, which adequately protected apprentices, already existed. It was recognised that apprenticeships offered a unique combination of education and work experience, and that exempting apprentices from the National Minimum Wage would promote and encourage employers to focus on training apprentices, and offering opportunities to them, while at the same time recognising the cost to employers in terms of time invested and productivity forgone.

Apprentices are employees and all of the 77 apprenticeship programmes are undertaken under a contract of employment. For the majority of apprenticeships, the rate of pay is agreed between the apprentice and the employer, with the employer paying the apprentice during both on-the-job and off-the-job training elements. For the 25 craft apprenticeship programmes, the minimum rates of pay applying under the employment contract are either agreed within the relevant sector, or are set out in legally binding Sectoral Employment Orders recommended by the Labour Court.

The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science has responsibility for apprenticeship policy as it relates to education and training. That Department has commissioned research into the landscape of apprentice pay and awaits a final report.

My officials remain in regular contact with their counterparts in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on the focus and status of this research. The research will inform any future discussions on the exemption of apprentices from the National Minimum Wage.