Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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15. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will amend the National Minimum Wage Act 2000 to include apprentices in its remit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55506/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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My Department has responsibility for the National Minimum Wage Act. The Act prescribes the minimum hourly rate of pay for the majority of employees in Ireland, subject to a small number of exemptions. Apprentices are excluded from the Act and 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. There is good reason for this exemption.

Apprentices were, and continue to be excluded from the National Minimum Wage Act in recognition of the unique nature of apprenticeships and the fact that a long-established practice for determining rates, which adequately protects apprentices, exists.

Apprenticeships offer a unique combination of education and work experience. When the National Minimum Wage was first introduced it was recognised that providing an exemption for apprentices 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.

I am fully aware of the importance of apprenticeships as an education and training route for our young people, and of the importance of apprentices to our economy. The Government is strongly committed to growing and strengthening Ireland’s apprenticeship system, as set out in the Programme for Government and the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021–2025.

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 plans to publish the next Action Plan for Apprenticeship in 2026. This Action Plan will strive to further grow apprenticeship opportunities and will be informed by two forthcoming reports on incentives; an economic review of existing employer and apprentice incentivisation commissioned by the National Apprenticeship Office, and a report on apprentice pay commissioned by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.

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