Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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1063. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he is satisfied that all available opportunities for trade apprenticeships within each Government Department are being allocated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17031/25]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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My department's Public Service Apprenticeship Plan was launched in August 2023 and is a key commitment under the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025. It seeks to grow the uptake of apprenticeship across the public service. Through 2024, my department and the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (DPENDR) engaged with public service sectors to identify their skills gaps, the potential areas for apprenticeship rollout and set sectoral targets that together will reach a target of 750 yearly registrations from 2025, which includes a target of 225 for the civil service.

To support public service employers to take on more apprentices, work was undertaken to promote the value of hiring apprentices to public service employers. My department jointly with DPENDR published a Guide to provide practical information for public service employers seeking to employ apprentices, which was launched at the inaugural Public Services Employer Symposium at the end of 2024. In March 2025 more work was done to promote the value and range of 77 apprenticeships available at a public service HR Network meeting and at an Information Day ‘Embracing Apprenticeship in the Civil Service’.

Craft apprenticeships play a significant role in public service apprenticeship. Of all public service apprentices, 49% are engaged in craft apprenticeship, which span 13 of the available 25 craft apprenticeship programmes and range from carpentry and joinery to stonecutting and stonemasonry.

There is currently a total of 220 craft apprentices employed in the public service. In 2024 there were 58 new registrations on craft apprenticeships in the public service, 13 of which were in civil service departments.

Budget 2025 saw an investment of €77 million in apprenticeship, highlighting this Government’s commitment to enhancing and expanding the apprenticeship system. This is the single biggest increase in core funding for apprenticeship under this department.