Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 September 2023
85. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science for an update on increasing the throughput of craft apprentices through the system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40589/23]
View answerIn order to deal with the issues we have been outlining over the last hour and a half - I refer to the housing crisis and student accommodation - we need to make sure there is a strong throughput of craft apprentices, especially for the future of young people who want to stay here, contribute to this society and help to solve that crisis. Will the Minister provide an update on what he is doing to increase the throughput of apprentices?
It is a pity we will not have much time for this question. I am sure we will return to it again. The apprenticeship system is responding to a marked increase in demand over the past four years. For the reasons the Deputy has mentioned, we need more people working in the trades. We estimate that we need 50,000 more people working in construction by 2030 and 17,000 more in retrofitting. Both housing and climate are dependent on more people taking up the trades and apprenticeships. The key thing we need to do is to increase capacity across the system. This includes physical capacity, which is why we are opening new training centres, like the one in Drogheda. We must also identify other opportunities to turn around additional capacity quickly.
I thank SIPTU.
I thank those working in the apprenticeship sector, who have stepped up and gone above and beyond. They could easily have said, "No thanks; we have done enough here." They stepped up because they care and are passionate and know how important apprenticeships are. In many cases, they provided a third intake - an extra class which has made a real and meaningful difference.
I assure the Deputy that in order to further accelerate and intensify delivery of increased apprenticeship training capacity we have established a task force chaired by my Department with SOLAS, the National Apprenticeship Office, the Higher Education Authority, education and training boards and union representatives. We are considering a range of issues on which I hope we can make progress in the budget approximately two weeks from now. Fundamentally, that has to be about growing capacity and expanding the sector.
