Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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52. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the additional measures he is planning to introduce to make apprenticeship programmes more attractive given the urgent need to increase the number of people qualified in the trades to address capacity issues; the plans to remove financial barriers to increase take-up of apprenticeships; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14501/25]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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54. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the action that will be taken to address high dropout rates from apprenticeships, such as increasing pay, abolishing fees and ensuring access to off the job training; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14352/25]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 52 and 54 together.

A key pillar in my department's Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025 are to ensure that apprenticeships will be recognised and valued by employers across all sectors of the economy as a key mechanism for building a highly skilled workforce. To incentivise participation in apprenticeships, a grant of €2,000 per year per apprentice is available to employers of apprentices on one of the 50+ consortia led apprenticeships.

Another pillar of the Action Plan for Apprenticeship us to ensure that apprenticeships are available to prospective learners and recognised by learners and families as a vital work based learning opportunity.

No fees are charged to take up an apprenticeship programme. A student contribution fee is paid by all students, including apprentices, when attending Higher Education Institutions. A once-off reduction of up to 33% of this fee as a part of a cost-of-living package for students was announced in Budgets 2023, 2024 and 2025. My department will be publishing an annual options paper on reducing the cost of education later this year. This will include options in relation to potential adjustments to the student contribution fee and will inform Budget 2026 discussions.

My department provides targeted financial supports to apprentices through the Access to Apprenticeship Initiative which supports socio-economically disadvantaged young people into an apprenticeship scheme, and the Traveller Apprenticeship Incentivisation Programme supporting those in the Traveller community to do an apprenticeship.

Neither SOLAS nor my department are involved in the setting of wages for apprentices. Craft apprentices are employees and are paid directly by their employer during the “on-the-job” training phases of their apprenticeship. Craft apprentice gross wage norms differ for different sectors, are set through collective bargaining, and may be underpinned by sectoral employment orders. In the case of the 52 consortia-led apprenticeship programmes wages are agreed between the apprentice and the employer in a contract of employment.

The National Apprenticeship Office has commissioned an independent economic assessment of the mechanisms that the State has, to incentivise participation in national apprenticeships by both employers and apprentices, drawing on international practice. The study will help inform the work underway on growing participation in apprenticeship.

My department continues to oversee the implementation of a priority plan put in place in November 2023 by the National Apprenticeship Office (NAO) to expand apprenticeship capacity and reduce apprentice waiting times for training.

Budget 2024 and Budget 2025 allocated an additional €67 million and €77 million respectively to apprenticeship delivery, bringing the total apprenticeship current budget to €339 million.

I am pleased to say that investment in the system has led to a 43% increase in craft training places in Education and Training Boards, rising from 5600 at the end of 2023 to some 8,000 in 2025. The number of craft apprentices waiting 6 months or longer for phase 2 off-the-job training has reduced by 79% since the implementation of the NAO plan – from 5,319 in October 2023 to 1,140 in February 2025 ensuring that craft training capacity meets skills needs now and into the future.

Non progression rates in the first year of apprenticeships are between 8% and 10%. The Higher Education rate for year one non progression is circa 12%. It is this Department's objective to continue to support learners attending further or higher education programmes and boost retention.