James Lawless
Kildare North · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“I am always open to feedback. The academics and authors of that report are entitled to their views, as are others. I just do not share all of their conclusions. As the Deputy said, the consultant spending was before my time. A lot of it was before the Department even existed.”
“More broadly, and this is something I think there is great potential to do more on, we are also promoting modern methods of construction, MMC, so we can embrace 2D or 3D models where they are either partially assembled off site and then brought to the location or almost fully assembled and the finished kit is brought into place.”
“In the energy space, that includes a commitment of €10 billion to enhance the grid capacity, because we need to be able to transit the energy as well as generate it, the workforce and the talent to do that - everything from retrofitting to green energy technicians and renewable energy engineers.”
“The capital funding envelop available to me is the mechanism through which I fund these projects, which is significant with €4.55 billion allocated across my Department for capital projects. SETU is the relevant institute in the south east, and it has multiple campuses, including a presence in the Xcelerate Centre at St.”
“I will recap on some of the measures I have introduced already because it is important to put them on the record again. In the previous budget, I was pleased to introduce the first ever permeant fee cut for students since free fees were introduced almost 30 years ago with a €500 permanent reduction.”
“Exactly. That is why we have a record €4.5 billion commitment across the sector. Regarding student facilities, there is the likes of the bundle 2 PPP programme which enhances student facilities on university campuses across the country.”
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“My Department was born from a vision that Ireland's next greatest leap forward would come not from luck or lower taxes, but from knowledge, skills and innovation. It would come from investing in our people as the true engine of national prosperity. That mission is to be the economic engine room of Ireland's future. Under this remit, we are cultivating the skills, research and talent that drive on our economy and our society. From classrooms to construction sites, from labs to lecture halls, from apprenticeships to artificial intelligence, the €5 billion I have secured in budget 2026 for my Department builds directly on that purpose, investing in people, powering enterprise and preparing Ireland for the challenges of tomorrow. I have listened intently to what my stakeholders have said and I am responding.”
“If that legislation is passed through all Stages, which I very much hope and think it can be, early when we resume after the summer break, we can then begin to spend that money and get some impact from that. The Deputy's question is very perceptive. That is the situation to date but it will continue and there will be more moneys coming into that. It is important in fairness to employers who pay the rate that they see some return on it as well. When they have a return on investment from education, we absolutely need to incorporate workforce skilling and practical measures to support employers as well.”
“The question is a good one as to where it goes next. Before I answer that I will talk about the steps my previous answers were stepping through. We need to bring in legislation because the National Training Fund Act does not envisage the type of uses I have just outlined. I think they are important. I met with IBEC and other employer representatives on it. There is a general shared understanding that we need to invest in education and all the things I have just said. This is a very useful resource towards that. The heads of the Bill are being drafted. That is before the relevant committee. I think there was a briefing on it this evening. The intention is to get that legislation before the Dáil very early in the new term.”
“We have new courses starting in Galway and Limerick, pharmacy and veterinary courses in ATU and SETU, and a number of other professional courses which are being supported through the National Training Fund, along with investment and research. The research stipends have increased to €25,000 from €16,000, a very significant leap. They are really the fuel that drives our information economy, our PhD students and researchers. That is being supported through it as well, along with some capital allocation. To do that, I need to legislate for it. As originally envisaged, it is not allowed for the money to be spend in that way. I hope to bring that legislation before the House this year.”
“The use of that money can be more purposefully put towards plugging the core funding gap in higher education, for example. The Cassells report identified €307 million of a shortfall between what the colleges were receiving and what they actually needed to operate. I intend to put €150 million per year current funding into the colleges to plug that gap. That should close the funding gap once and for all. It is a really significant measure if we achieve that. There is also money ring-fenced for apprenticeships and for the further education system. There is also money ring-fenced from capital spending and decarbonisation of the higher education estate. There are moneys ring-fenced for the likes of the new courses in medicine.”
“I thank the Deputy. There is a simple answer, but since the Deputy probably wants some details, I will tell him a bit more. I am very passionate and excited about the opportunity we have provided through the National Training Fund. There is a surplus in the fund of almost €1.5 billion and that has been accumulated through employer contributions over several years. The issue today is that it has been difficult to fully harness the potential of the fund because it was first envisaged as a labour activation measure in times of economic turbulence when people on the live register were trying to get back into the workforce for reskilling and upskilling. This is still important but thankfully, for now, the economic climate is more robust.”
“The demand for and interest in the apprenticeship route have increased considerably over recent years, to the extent that craft registrations, for example, amounted to 7,100 despite the 6,800 forecast. This is mirrored across most of the cohorts. Therefore, we have more people who want to do apprenticeships than ever before.”
“My immediate focus is on fixing the problem but I hear what the Deputy is saying. The immediate response is to address the funding gap to ensure no courses are detrimentally impacted to the extent that they would not progress into next year. I have written to the chair of SOLAS to instruct that no apprenticeship classes be cancelled. Once this is resolved – I am confident it will be in the short term – there may need to be some governance amendments and stronger protections within the system to ensure an early warning, far in advance, of issues concerning financial management. Let me finish on a positive. To an extent, this is a feature of success.”
“I mentioned in response to an earlier parliamentary question that the deadline for December calls to start apprenticeship training is September. That is our window. We need to act. We are acting already and I am confident we will have this addressed, through Supplementary Estimates if needs be, before the deadline.”
“I do not have to hand a figure for LMETB per se . The overall system has received €41 million more this year than last year. What SOLAS allocates to each ETB is a matter for it. It is devolved from my Department and my control. If LMETB has a figure above or below what was expected, it is between it and SOLAS. The overall budget envelope for which responsibility has been devolved to SOLAS has actually increased. There is no doubt but that there are issues, however, and these stem from the backlog of apprentices that arose last year and the year before. Many apprentices were on a higher rate of pay than anticipated because they were in the system longer. They have not exited the system and that has caused funding pressures. I am working through that, along with the Minister of State, Deputy Harken, our officials and SOLAS.”
“It is tasked with managing and predicting demand and working with the ETBs to plan in this regard. Bearing in mind Louth and Meath Education and Training Board, LMETB, which I know is important to the Deputy, issues have been identified with SOLAS at national level. I spoke about these in response to a different question. My Department is working with SOLAS to progress solutions to these by way of supplementary funding. That is going well. There is a need for some further intervention. I am to meet the board of SOLAS on Thursday and I have instructed that no apprenticeships are to be cancelled, but I am confident we will have a resolution quite soon.”
“There was an additional €77 million in the last budget, putting apprenticeships on a scale they were never on before in terms of supports, including practical supports, and the scope and number of courses that can be accessed. It is the responsibility of SOLAS to work with the individual ETBs to plan their provision within the funding allocation made available by central government. There are complexities. It is a demand-led system but with a finite funding envelope. Funding is allocated on an Estimates basis each year but there is a demand curve. It can be difficult for these to align. It is up to SOLAS to manage this with the ETBs. It has a quite generous budget of over €1 billion and it allocates to the ETBs depending on demand in each area.”
“I thank the Deputy. We have had a few variations of this discussion over the evening. That is to be expected because there were impacts in different areas in different ways. There has actually been no funding cut to the apprenticeship system in 2025. In fact, investment through the Revised Estimates has increased by €41 million by comparison with the figure for last year. Instead of a funding cut, there has been a funding increase for the system from my Department. The Government has demonstrated a strong and sustained commitment. Since the formation of my Department, investment in apprenticeship training has increased by 84% from €184 million in 2020 to €339 million in 2025.”
“For the benefit of the House, let me recap on some of the measures kicking in this year. I will investigate with regard to the cohort mentioned. It is worth saying that the special rate of maintenance threshold increased this year from €26,200 to €27,400. All grant thresholds increased by 15%, meaning the highest threshold is now €115,000. I signed a statutory instrument about four weeks into this job to bring 100 additional part-time courses into the SUSI net and the support net for the first time. Therefore, we are broadening and deepening the system, and we are providing more supports to more students than ever before.”
“Along those lines, I have instructed my Department to prepare research on the impact of various interventions and the levers we can pull, in addition to the policy consequences of those levers. I will include the Deputy’s position in the mix because it is important. If I understand the Deputy’s point on mature students correctly, mature students seem to have proportionately benefited even more from some of the measures than others. That is an interesting point.”
“I think the Deputy has got to the heart of the recent debate; he has actually nailed it. It is so important that with whatever intervention we make around fees, grants or supports, we understand what the policy objective is. Is it to broaden the net? Is it to give something to everybody? Is it to give most to those who need it most? Is it to bring into the system people who would not otherwise have access third level education? Is it about a life-changing intervention for a family who has never had anybody go to college before? Is it for mature students who want to make the leap to return to college, perhaps after having been in the workforce? Let us be clear on the policy objectives and the problems we are trying to solve. If we are clear about those, we can design and tailor an intervention to match.”
“The band 4 maintenance increased to €50,840, the band under which to receive the grant, with the threshold for the 100% student contribution grant increasing by 10% to €55,924. Every student or their family up to an income of €55,924, just under €60,000, received their 100% student contribution grant as well as their SUSI grant. Those thresholds have expanded further for the upcoming year. It is important to also talk about and recognise the part-time fees scheme, which I will come back to in the supplementary.”
“Undergraduate students deserve and receive the most focus but there is also the postgraduate student population. Maintenance was restored to them on a similar basis in September 2024, with a pro rata increase from January 2024. A total of 1,741 postgraduate students benefited from this measure in the previous academic year. Effective from September of last year and coming into this year, all non-adjacent maintenance rates increased by €615 and all adjacent maintenance grant rates increased by 10%, with a pro rata increase effective from January 2024. This benefitted 48,652 students, including the postgraduate students who I mentioned. From September 2024, the special rate threshold increased in line with welfare.”
“I thank the Deputy. I welcome this question. It is an opportunity to talk about the impact the SUSI grant can have. There has been continued investment and improvement with it but there is still more we can do. If we look at certain measures within the schemes and bands, there is an opportunity to go further there. Significant improvements have been made over the last number of years. In 2024, the once-off cost of living measures benefitted a proportion of grant holders in 2024. It is desirable to continue that beyond a once-off, temporary measure and into more permanent measures and to provide certainty to students because they are of significant impact and continue to benefit students. We also have to look at it from a wider perspective.”
“We are aware of the issues and keen to progress them. I am engaging across government to ensure that happens in time for the next round.”
“The Deputy has engaged in good faith throughout on this matter. I hear his queries and share them. It is important a solution be found, including a funding solution, in the coming weeks. The cut-off for classes starting in December is September. There is a lead-time for apprentices to be called up and September is the deadline for December classes. We do not have time on our side; however, I am confident. Significant progress has been made in the few weeks since this issue emerged. We are engaging on sustainable funding options to get SOLAS and the ETBs to the end of year. Normally, the Supplementary Estimate takes place in November but we may need to bring that forward to bridge this gap. I am quite confident the matter is receiving significant ministerial attention from me and the Minister of State.”
“Some ETBs are impacted differently than others, and some trades are impacted differently than others. The plan SOLAS is working on takes account of those variances. The response I received from SOLAS is that, once it is managed practically, it will not materially impact progression to the following year, which is very important.”
“I completely agree it is not acceptable. This is why I have taken strong, proactive steps to address it since it came to my attention. As well as directing SOLAS that no courses should be cancelled, I directed it to engage with ETBs to set out the programme of phase 2 classes through to the end of the year and to work out funding implications across the board to December. What does the revised schedule of classes look like? It means no classes will be cancelled but some may start later in the year than previously planned. That will be managed. My message to SOLAS and the ETBs is to manage it proactively and minimise the impact on apprentices. Instructors will be working. They have many other tasks to perform as part of their curriculum development. There are different challenges.”
“A skilled labour force is essential. SOLAS, with the full support of my officials, is working with the ETBs to identify solutions and that work is going well. We have identified moneys that can be allocated to that. I am engaging with the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation on additional supports. We will move might and main to make sure this gets through the system, the backlog is cleared and this does not go into another year. I do not think that would be acceptable to anybody.”
“SOLAS is the State agency tasked with the further education training sector and a key part of its remit is managing budgets and allocating funding to the ETBs to deliver those programmes. Since the Deputy raised it last, I have engaged with SOLAS in person and in writing and I will meet its board this Thursday along with the Minister of State, Deputy Harkin. We are both going out to visit its board and will bring certain messages which I will not go into now but the Deputy can be sure this item will be on the agenda. I have written to the chair of the board, instructing him and SOLAS that no scheduled apprenticeship classes are to be cancelled. As we heard from Deputy O'Sullivan, it would be unacceptable for a backlog to be recreated. We need the apprenticeship system to work. We need employees to come through that training.”
“In fairness, the Deputy was one of the first to raise this matter in the House a few weeks ago. He and Deputy Cullinane raised it in Topical Issues a couple of weeks back. As he is aware from that engagement, my Department and I were informed that, following engagements between SOLAS and ETBs on budgets, a funding pressure was identified for the 2025 apprenticeship budget. As I said a few questions back, that relates to allowances where apprentices are in the system longer than was anticipated because of backlogs that arose. They then became eligible for higher rates of payment which placed a strain on the funding of SOLAS and the ETBs. That is how it came about.”
“If he brings me that case, I will investigate it. That goes for any Deputy in the House if there are particular cases they are struggling with. Let us see whether, with the supports and schemes already in place, some people are falling through the cracks. If so, why? If not, great, let us get them the support they are entitled to. There may be a flaw that means they are not getting support. I hear a lot of hardship cases. I hear them in my constituency and have for years, long before I was in this Department. Now I am in a position to do something about it. If Deputies find gaps in the system or anomalies, tell me so I can fix them.”
“We have 116 beds coming on stream in Maynooth and 493 recently announced by UCD with support and funding from my Department. DCU is in a process before its board investigating its tenders. Those are the first three projects coming on stream in the near future. We have many other projects around the country. I am seeking significant funding in the national development plan to invest further in purpose-built student accommodation. The Deputy mentioned people travelling further having a greater burden. In the SUSI scheme, there is the adjacent grant and the non-adjacent grant. Those who live further from their college qualify for a higher maintenance grant, as is right and proper because it costs more to get there. Deputy O'Hara talked of a family in his constituency. I am happy to take that discussion offline.”
“I met the USI in March, again in April and again in June. I met many other representatives across the education system, including access officers and advocates for disadvantaged groups. From that stakeholder engagement, which is ongoing and on which I am open to submissions, I published a costs of education paper that sets out the choices. There are choices and costs but they are not just financial costs; there are opportunity costs. If we do this, we cannot do that. Those are the choices we have to make. Among them are choices about student accommodation. I brought to Cabinet a fortnight ago a blueprint for student accommodation. I want to publish by the end of this year a student accommodation strategy. Ultimately, the solution to finding comfortable, affordable units for students is building student accommodation at scale.”
“An Teachta Heneghan spoke about student accommodation and backyard cabins and such like. Regardless of whether I comment on my own brief, it would probably be unhelpful if I were to start commenting on the Minister for housing's brief. I hear what the Deputy is saying, and I will mention those points to the Minister. I am not across that section so it would not be appropriate for me to get into commentary on it. However, the Deputy highlights a point that ultimately the costs of education are multifaceted. There are fees, living costs, accommodation costs, transport costs and materials costs. We have been through this a few times in the House, but I will recap. One of the many ways that I hope to tackle the cost of education is by producing a cost of education paper. I met with students’ representatives in April in Croke Park.”
“What I can say, as I have said repeatedly, is that we already have for September multiple new schemes, benefits and thresholds. I have stated my absolute commitment to see through the programme for Government in full. There may be challenges about how we do that, but the job is to rise to challenges and meet them. I intend to do that and to see reductions to the student contribution fee in a financially sustainable way. That is the bit that gets least attention, but the parties were every bit as adamant that it be inserted into the programme for Government. I will see the programme for Government through to the letter.”
“I remember getting representations from students and their families over the past couple of years, querying it myself and being told it was a budgetary matter. It did not get the same attention. Deputy O'Gorman said earlier that I gave a straight answer. Maybe I should have fudged it and done the political thing of saying there is nothing to see here. I tried to be straight about it and perhaps I have learned a lesson, but if that is the case it is to be regretted that we have to fudge things to get through these interviews. That is regrettable. It is not how I do business. It is a fact that none of us knows, in any Department or any part of government, what our budget is for the year ahead, what we will have and what demands will be placed on that money. We cannot know that until October.”
“Part of me is surprised at the surprise, because I said this at parliamentary questions in February, March and April. I said it in the Irish Examiner , in The Irish Times and in other local radio interviews. I said it in multiple places, so I wonder why anyone feigns surprise. Of course, the general public do not tune into this Chamber, but there are spokespersons and people in the House, and those who follow. Deputy O'Gorman was a Minister who did the cost-of-living package in the previous Government, so he knows it was temporary. There should not be any surprise on his behalf. This is exactly the same situation as prevailed last year and the year before and the year before. In those situations, the €1,000 contribution rebate was not applied until October. It did not kick in in June, July or August.”
“It is stated that this is to be done in a financially sustainable manner. That is part of it. I do not cherry-pick. I take it as it is. However, I fully intend to address these commitments, including reducing the student contribution over the lifetime of the Government and bringing about a system that is not temporary, once-off or a question of "will they, won't they" every summer, as we have now and have had over the last three summers, but that is permanent, costed and sustainable and that will form part of the baseline Estimates going forward so that students have certainty about where it is going in the future. The interventions of recent years were certainly welcome but progressing in a permanent sustainable manner will better serve students and their families and give them the certainty they need.”
“I reiterate my absolute commitment to all of the commitments of the programme for Government and not just one. We have had a lot of focus on one in recent days but the programme for Government includes a number of commitments relating to my Department. I will work through each one of them. A number of them have already been fulfilled. I will continue to work through them all. I will honour every single commitment insofar as I can. However, it is also important to realise that it is not feasible to deliver every programme for Government commitment in full in year one. That is important to realise. There are commitments that are spread over the lifetime of the Government, which is exactly how I will approach them. I am working my way through them. That will be challenging at times.”
“I am very keen to continue to support measures like that but it has been confirmed in recent weeks that there will not be a cost-of-living ancillary package across Government this year so we will need to do something different in budget 2026. We need to look at a different policy approach and a different funding approach. I hosted an event on the cost of education in early April to better inform that approach and to better understand the interventions that are necessary and what kind of measures would be most helpful and most impactful. I met with representative groups. I will continue that consultation over the summer. I met with the previous executives of student unions. I understand new executives will be coming in around this time. I look forward to meeting them over the coming weeks.”
“As the House will be aware, almost all full-time undergraduate students have their tuition fees paid in full by the State. The free fees initiative has been there for some time and the Exchequer still pays for it every year. Almost half of all students have their student contribution fee paid in full or in part by the State. The threshold for those interventions has increased again this year. I mentioned that €115,000 is the highest income at which support is offered but there is a sliding scale under which people can get support at 100% of the student contribution, 50% or €500. The House will be aware that a temporary once-off reduction of €1,000 was introduced in the last three budgets. That was part of a cost-of-living package that was put together to support students and other sectors of society.”
“Very significant supports are available and the income threshold stands at an all-time historic high of €115,000, meaning your household income has to be greater than that for you not to get some kind of support. I do not know if the people the Deputy has mentioned are in that situation and are earning more than €115,000 but, if they are and cannot afford these fees, we may need to have a conversation about that. There are a lot of supports. We had this discussion earlier on. There is evidence that people are not claiming some of the supports that are available. They may not be aware of them and they are not applying for them. If that is the case, we can engage on that point to see what exactly is missing there that leads people not to avail of the supports they are entitled to.”
“I propose to take Questions Nos. 104, 105, 107, 110 and 112 together. I note that a number of Deputies have similar questions and that these have been grouped. We will probably go around the House to take supplementary questions. As I have said a number of times this evening and over recent months, I am acutely conscious of the financial challenges facing students and of the need for the progressive implementation of measures to address costs as a barrier to education. I am quite alarmed to hear that people are telling the Deputy they are unsure whether they can afford college because the entire system of SUSI grants, fee supports, contributions and interventions is geared towards avoiding that situation.”
“It absolutely will not be kicked down the road on my watch. I assure the Deputy of that. I intend to tackle this. That is why I am engaging with the Minister for public expenditure and directly with SOLAS. I am meeting the board on Thursday. This needs to be tackled and brought to a head. Like all other agencies funded under the Department's aegis, SOLAS makes submissions as part of the annual Estimates process. It is required to ensure that it gets value for money but also that it is productive, uses the resources allocated to it in the correct way and measures and manages properly so that what it estimates is needed in its allocation is actually what it spends. If that is not done, it will cause difficulties, as we see in this case. I agree with the Deputy about kicking the can down the road.”
“It is unfortunate that we had a backlog in the first place but we cannot have any further backlogs because it is so important to overall societal and Government priorities, including construction, green skills and the rest of the 77 areas of apprenticeships we now have, that we allow learners to progress through the system as rapidly as possible. I understand some ETBs are deferring places rather than cancelling them but I believe any apprentices who have been called will take up that call and progress. We may see some slippage in a couple of courses, however. It is regrettable but this is something I am working through. I have engaged with the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, with his Department and directly with SOLAS to try to address the matter.”
“This came to my attention about a month ago. I addressed it in the Chamber shortly after that. That funding pressure arises from apprentices being in the system for longer than was ever anticipated because of backlogs that arose previously. They are on an incremental scale so, as they remain in the system, they become eligible for higher rates. This means there was a requirement for greater funding than had been allocated. I have written to SOLAS. I wrote to the chair and I am also meeting the board. I have instructed that no apprenticeship programme should be cancelled as a result of this. It is not good enough. We cannot allow this situation to arise again.”
“This goes back to the issue of pay because the apprentices still in the system were being paid a higher rate than they should have been had they been progressing through faster. Ultimately, it is a legacy issue. I am aware of it and I am working on it. I have made the House aware of it. I do not believe we will see issues arising. I have written to SOLAS to say that no apprenticeship courses should be cancelled as a result.”
“I hear that some ETBs are looking for more while others are making the most of what they have, but that is a normal and healthy dynamic between a funder and a funded organisation. They have to work together. It is important to point out that a funding pressure has been identified in the budget. A budgetary issue arose and came to my attention about two weeks ago. Funding was found to be insufficient to cover the needs for the current year and that is something I am working through. I have been engaging with the Minister for public expenditure on it since it came to my attention. It is a legacy issue that stems from a situation that arose last year and the year before. There was a backlog in apprentices and those that should have been progressing much faster through the system were not, which put pressure on the system.”
“I thank the Deputy for the question. We have had some discussion on this in the Chamber previously. The funding SOLAS receives has increased substantially, with current funding in 2025 representing a €310 million, or 37%, uplift compared to 2020. That has enabled one in ten adults to engage in learning funded by SOLAS and highlights the vital role of further education and training in workforce upskilling and lifelong learning. To date this year, I have allocated nearly €1.3 billion to SOLAS in total funding to deliver national priorities in apprenticeships, upskilling, reskilling, literacy and so forth. SOLAS allocates this funding to the 16 ETBs to deliver programmes based on agreed targets. SOLAS and the ETBs must work with one another to manage their allocations.”
“They start on a low wage as trainees when they come into the system but they progress quickly, and by the time they come out the far side and are qualified, they are on a median weekly wage of €935 in most cases.”
“I thank the Deputy. I appreciate that. In the bulk of apprenticeships, the story is one of success and progression. In an apprenticeship survey conducted recently, 90% of apprentices who qualified were in employment in that field two years later. They stuck with it. There was high stickability and the median weekly earnings were €935 two years out. If we look at a sample of rates, construction sector apprentices in year 2 were entitled to €11.50 per hour. In the mechanical contracting industry, apprentices received €13.82 in year 2, while mechanical rates were €13.36 per hour in year 2. Electrical apprentices got €11.78 as of second year, so we can see the progression there.”
“A contract is entered into and terms and conditions are set out, including pay, in the employment contract. On those programmes, the apprentice is paid by the employer throughout the programme. Wages for apprentices are covered under the Industrial Training Act, which differentiates between an employee and an apprentice for the purposes of pay legislation. There are a number of reasons for this, including that employers must be able to balance the investment costs of training an apprentice. Ultimately, they are taking on a trainee, not a fully formed employee. As apprentices progress through the system, they will be paid more. By the time they are in years 3 and 4, their pay increases significantly.”
“I hear that, but neither my Department nor SOLAS is involved in the setting of apprenticeship wages. There are two types of apprentices. Under apprenticeship programmes developed before 2016, which are referred to as craft apprenticeships and are largely but not exclusively traditional construction-type apprenticeships, there are long-standing industrial relations mechanisms that determine pay. Collective bargaining between industry and employee representatives determines the rates. That is a well-established industrial relations system. Three quarters of the overall apprenticeship population falls under those arrangements. For the newer apprenticeships, some of which I mentioned in my initial response, wages are set between the employer and the apprentice directly.”
“A number of areas have been identified as suitable for the apprenticeship model and are being expanded and rolled out through the consortia-type method. There is a positive broadening of the spectrum of apprenticeships, bringing in new and emerging skills and methods. It is a commendable way of training. We support employers with training costs. There is a €2,000 consortia-led employer grant for the cost of taking on an apprentice because there are costs involved. I have met employers who have expressed concerns about costs. In the same way that apprentices themselves and their spokespersons raise issues about costs, employers do so, too, and it needs both to make the system work. The goal across the Government is to have 12,500 new apprenticeship registrations by 2030. That will be the central focus of the new action plan.”