Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 October 2023
147. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if there are any plans to shorten the length of time an apprentice waits for training; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45552/23]
View answerIt is this Government’s ambition to right-size apprenticeship capacity in line with labour market demands, the ambitions of the Action Plan for Apprenticeship, and in support of Government objectives under Housing For All, retrofitting, and green skills.
As a demand-led system, there are no restrictions on the number of apprentices that can register. The apprenticeship system is currently responding to a marked increase in demand over the past four years, driven by increasing overall tertiary sector demand, legacy training provision backlogs from the pandemic, and growing demand for skills associated with areas such as construction.
I am fully aware that many craft apprentices are not progressing through their training in line with typical waiting periods. In August this year, 7,578 apprentices were waiting for off-the-job training. Of these 5,257 were waiting longer than six months.
Given these delays, we have to align training capacity with continued strong demand and also implement other measures which will add further capacity.
My Department is working closely with SOLAS and the ETBs to continue to increase training capacity, resulting in 13,000 craft places delivered in 2022. It is intended to deliver some 15,300 places in total this year. With additional funding of €67 million now secured through Budget 2024, I expect training capacity to increase to 16,000 places in 2024 – a significant increase in capacity.
In order to further accelerate and intensify the delivery of increased training capacity, my Department is working on an ongoing basis with SOLAS, the National Apprenticeship Office, the Higher Education Authority, the ETB sector, and union representatives. Through weekly meetings, we are working to devise and successfully implement a funded set of actions to address this very significant and important issue.
