Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 May 2024
3. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the progress being made with regard to the current challenges in the apprenticeship system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23473/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Minister was just talking about capacity issues. One of the big things in terms of capacity is to make sure we have the workforce that can build the different projects that we need, particularly when it comes to accommodation needs.
That is why I would like the Minister to outline what progress is being made at the moment with regard to the current challenges in the apprenticeship system. Craft apprentices are coming to me and telling me they are in crisis.
Strong demand for craft apprenticeships, which is a good thing, reflecting a very buoyant construction sector, has resulted in a 25% increase in craft apprenticeship registrations since 2019.
My Department is overseeing the implementation of a plan put in place by the National Apprenticeship Office which has, to date, nearly halved the number of craft apprentices waiting more than six months for their phase 2 off-the-job training, from 5,319 in October 2023 to 2,976 in April 2024. Craft apprenticeships take 48 months to complete. As part of the plan, the NAO has put a renewed focus on speeding up delivery of two of the 25 craft programmes, pipefitting and electrical instrumentation, that are currently taking significantly more than 48 months to complete, impacting 279 apprentices waiting for training.
Significant resources are being invested to further increase the capacity of the apprenticeship programme system. Some €67 million was allocated in budget 2024, bringing total investment in the area to €298 million. Some €17 million in capital investment was made in 2023 to expand provision in current facilities and develop new facilities as well as for equipment. The NAO is leading a national recruitment campaign which has resulted in 58 new instructor posts so far, with more to be advertised when capital projects come on stream. In addition, more than 80 instructor posts have been converted from fixed-term to permanent to help support retention. ETBs have been mandated by SOLAS to commence three apprenticeship intakes per workshop per year to support the delivery plan of the NAO.
As a direct result of these actions, apprenticeship delivery capacity in the ETBs has grown substantially, from 5,613 in 2023 to 7,545 in 2024, a 34% increase. It is my priority to maintain that momentum, continue growing the apprenticeship system and ensure there are enough training places for current and future skills needs.
The Minister's own Department and SOLAS recently produced the Report on the Analysis of Skills for Residential Construction & Retrofitting 2023-2030. That report estimated that we need to increase the size of the construction sector by 50,831 new entrants by the year 2030 if we are to meet our targets. What is interesting is that the report used 2019 as its base year. Between 2019 and 2022, however, the size of the construction workforce actually fell. If the craft apprenticeships were pumping out qualified tradespeople adequately and quickly, that might not be a cause for concern, but there is a huge cause for concern in the failure of craft apprenticeships and it relates to the wider failure around housing. If our craft apprenticeship system cannot produce the necessary workers, how will we build the homes we so desperately need? We know that so many craft apprentices are at a crisis point because it is taking so long for them to get qualified. It is taking them longer than the four years, which is absolutely outrageous. They are not able to get the money they deserve to get. They really are at a crisis point. I hope the Minister, now that he is in this Department, takes this and really pushes it forward.
I agree with an awful lot of what the Deputy said, having grown up in a house where we always had craft apprentices related to the construction sector. When the wheels came off the wagon in this country in 2008 and 2010 to 2011, we did not have the certainty to provide a great many of these young women and young men with gainful employment. People who would ordinarily have gone into this went away. Now our economy is far more buoyant and we have a job to do to make sure they feel safe and that this is a career path and a career choice for them. To be fair to SOLAS, the Department and the ETBs, substantial investment in this area has been made to make sure we get those craft apprentices in.
As a point of note, of the 25 craft apprenticeship programmes, only four - my note should not say "only" four - are on average completing phase 6 over 48 months and two are completing it significantly more than 48 months. The situation needs to be improved - I acknowledge that, and there is always room for improvement in the area of education - but I do not think the glass is half empty.
I totally agree with the Minister's first point about people having certainty. In addition, that again shows us the role of the State. At the end of the day, the State is the largest employer, and that is a very important point. Of course people were concerned about certainty after the crash, but I am looking at those who are in the system right now and who feel like they are not heard or listened to. A lot of the time they feel their voices just are not heard. I think the Minister is saying he is willing and hoping to bring voice to that, which is really important. The reality is that in a number of the craft apprentices, it is taking longer. Unfortunately, I do not have the figures right in front of me, but it is taking up to six years. I have had those figures provided to me by SOLAS. When people do not have that certainty as to how long it will take them to finish up, they will go to Australia - that is the reality - because they just do not feel they will get qualified in the time they should be.
I think the Deputy needs to take solace and comfort from the fact that a substantial amount of additional money, €67 million, was put into this in the previous budget. One of the identifiers is the number of additional tutors now working in this area who were not working in it previously and whom we need to sign off people in order that they can become skilled craftspersons in their own right. Oftentimes when I am in this Chamber, I listen to people say, "If you are saying you are going to build 35,000 houses, I am going to build 65,000 houses." I often muse to myself how they are going to build them unless they have the capacity in the workforce. An awful lot of that is just picking numbers out of the sky to facilitate a news headline without any real backup figures. If you talk to SOLAS, our Department and the ETBs, they are working flat out to try to make sure people are-----
I do. I talk to SOLAS.
As well as that, they are working to get people into the programmes. There is no point in saying, "If you are saying you are going to build 35,000 houses, I will build 65,000", without a plan as to how to get young people into apprenticeships.
But we are missing the targets.
