Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 January 2024
85. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if there are plans for the further expansion of apprenticeship courses in County Louth; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2027/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraI ask the Minister to lay out his plans regarding the further expansion of apprenticeship courses in Louth. We are talking about apprenticeships in many different fields at this stage. Provision has moved beyond what could be considered traditional apprenticeships. This relates to what we discussed earlier in terms of the need for multiple pathways for people to deliver the skill sets that are required across the board.
The Deputy could not have known when he submitted his question that I would make an announcement this morning but I am pleased to say that I have just given approval for a major expansion of apprenticeship provision in the Dundalk Institute of Technology, DkIT. A total of 390 additional apprenticeship programme places will be provided there under a programme that will see the refurbishment of vacant space within the P. J. Carroll buildings. I want to congratulate DkIT whose new president, Dr. Diarmuid O'Callaghan, has very much welcomed this announcement. In his comments this morning, he said that he believes this will solidify DkIT's commitment to providing for and responding to the regional and national need for training in the in-demand craft system. I am very much looking forward to that project progressing.
Of course, as the Deputy Ó Murchú will be aware, this comes on the back of a very significant expansion in apprenticeship programmes in the Louth and Meath region. Louth Meath Education and Training Board, LMETB, is providing education and training services to more than 30,000 students. LMETB had a total of 2,339 apprentices registered at the end of 2023 in various programmes, including hairdressing, network engineering, ICT software development, plumbing, carpentry and joinery, pipe fitting, electrical, tool making, motor mechanics, metal fabrication and wood manufacturing and finishing. LMETB established the Advanced Manufacturing and Training Centre of Excellence, AMTCE, in Dundalk in 2021. The Deputy will also be aware that last year I launched the Drogheda apprenticeship training hub, which provided for a very significant expansion of apprenticeships. Drogheda has 336 additional places, while Dundalk has 390 additional places.
That is all very welcome but we do need to see movement on a regional skills and training centre. We also need to deal with space constraints at OFE for certain courses. It may be possible to deliver additional space through the programme announced by the Minister this morning.
On DkIT, Dr. O'Callaghan has done significant work in the past while, including enhancing the relationship with Maynooth University, which will provide solutions for DkIT into the future.
Deputy, will you give your remaining time to your colleagues who want to ask some supplementary questions?
I ask the Minister to provide details on those 3,000 places and exactly what they relate to.
In addition, have critical skills and immigration visas ever been looked at in terms of trades? I have looked at that and it did not seem to be clear. On the five-year period the Minister mentioned, I was talking specifically about 2022-23, when there was a doubling of people with visas going to Australia and there was an increase in the number of people leaving over those coming in.
The question referenced the expansion of apprenticeship places. I ask the Minister, and I have already asked for this, for a purpose-built apprentice centre in Cork under the heading of either Munster Technological University or the ETB. The northside would be the ideal location for that. We need multiple campuses. I once again ask the Minister to look at that. It is an area that requires additional spaces. We have the capacity on the northside to deliver it.
