Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 February 2024
24. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the way his Department is supporting young people from the Traveller community to become apprentices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8809/24]
View answerWe are aware that people from the Traveller community, and especially young people, experience very high rates of unemployment. I want to give the Minister an opportunity to tell us how the Department is supporting young people from the Traveller community to become apprentices and so to become gainfully employed.
I thank the Deputy for his question. The action plan for apprenticeships, which runs from 2021 to 2025 promotes access, diversity and inclusion in apprenticeships by offering targeted supports to encourage participation from under-represented groups such as the Traveller community.
One of the plan's main objectives is apprenticeship for all to ensure that the apprenticeship population better represents the national population. To advance this the national apprenticeship alliance established an access and inclusion subcommittee in early 2023. In 2023 a tailored programme for access to apprenticeships within the Traveller community was developed and successfully introduced. The initiative was led by the Irish Traveller Movement with advice and support from the above mentioned subcommittee. The Traveller apprenticeship incentive programme aims to increase uptake of and retention of apprenticeships within the Traveller community. It has run an advocacy and awareness campaign to raise the profile of apprenticeships. The programme offers a bursary of €3,000 to successful applicants, and separately a €2,000 grant to eligible employers. To date interest has been very positive and encouraging. The programme went live in April of 2023 and by the end of 2023 a total of 41 Travellers had been funded to the programme.
We are really pleased to confirm that a figure of €450,000 has been secured to continue the programme into 2024. Under the access to apprenticeship incentive, 3,000 bursaries are also available to support those who were experiencing severe socioeconomic disadvantage, with €500,000 being allocated for this in the 2024 bursary and initiative. This is delivered through the Technical University of the Shannon, TUS, and is expanding to all education and training boards, as well as to TUS Limerick campus, TUS Athlone campus, Munster Technological University, and Atlantic Technological University in Galway.
Building on these actions we strongly share the objective reflected in the Deputy's question of continuing to provide greater opportunities for young people in the Traveller community to participate in apprenticeships.
I thank the Minister of State for the very positive and comprehensive response. Will the Minister of State give us any indication as to what type of apprenticeships are most popular among the people he mentioned? What are the Minister of State's targets for the years ahead 2025 and 2026 for the number of young Traveller people who would graduate and become apprentices?
The Traveller apprenticeship incentive programme is funded under the Dormant Accounts Fund scheme. The programme is aimed at increasing the uptake of and retention of apprenticeships. The programme is structured across three streams: a €3,000 bursary for each 20 Travellers who are employed as new apprentices; a €2,000 incentive payment to each of their employers; and each of the streams 1,2 and 3 have similar funding. The employers who hire a Traveller apprentice are also eligible for the €2,000 employer grant. Details of the programme were presented by the Department of Equality at its conference recently with the Traveller and Roma communities. This was a conference on employment and it was entitled "Overcoming Barriers and Promoting Opportunities".
Calls for expressions of interest for Travellers seeking apprenticeships went live in early April. There were 130 expressions of interest.
Will the Minister of State give me any indication as to the gender breakdown of these apprenticeships? How many girls and how many boys are involved in this? Will the Minister of State also give an indication of the types of apprenticeships that are most popular such as carpentry or mechanics? Is the Minister of State aware of the Castlerea Prison Jonathan Irwin project where young Travellers in the prison can train in skills, and horse husbandry in particular?
Does the Minister of State have any connection with the Open Doors initiative which also works on this?
We will get the Deputy all of what he has looked for after this session. There were 113 applicants, 86 of whom were male and 17 were female. A total of 70 of the applicants had completed their junior certificate and 40% of the applicants had their leaving certificate completed. In terms of the apprenticeship types, approximately 21 were in construction, 16 in electrical, two in engineering and two in motoring. We will get the Deputy the entire range of data he requested.
