Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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228. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of apprentice registrations across all trades from 2020 to 2025, broken down by county, in tabular form. [6809/26]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Apprenticeships are national programmes. Apprentices are registered by their employers with Education and Training Boards (ETBs) in the region in which their employers are located. There are 16 ETBs, and many ETBs cover broader geographical areas rather than being specific to a single county. Consequently, the requested data cannot be broken down by county.

The attached table gives the national number of annual registrations across all programmes from 2020 to 2025.

Annual apprenticeship registrations have grown by 78% in recent years, rising from 5,326 in 2020 to 9,461 in 2025, while the apprenticeship population has grown 59%, from 19,630 in 2020 to 31,165 in 2025. This significant growth has been supported by strong government investment. In Budget 2026 I secured an investment of €79 million in apprenticeship delivery. This brings total annual funding for apprenticeship delivery to over €410 million in 2026, more than double the €184 million allocated in 2020, the year in which my department was established.

This Government remains committed to growing and developing Ireland's apprenticeship system. Government will publish the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2026 - 2030 this year, targeting 12,500 annual registrations by 2030. /ie/oireachtas/caighdeanOifigiul/2026/2026-01-28_pq-228-28-01-2026_en.pdf