National Minimum Wage
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-19
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Alan Dillon (FG), Mayo

We are all in agreement that we need to address the construction skills gap and that is very much central to the Government's strategy. We do not want to price young people or employers out of the system and that is important to reflect on. We are investing in career pathways, educational access and targeted incentives. We are very much focused on building confidence in careers within the construction sector through apprenticeships and we want to do that. As I said earlier, apprentices are not at the bottom of the pay scale when it comes to their transition with a skill that they have developed over their apprentice programme. Most who qualify are on over €49,000 per year two years post entry into the sector. That is reflective of the programme they undertake, but also their post-qualification position and what that means.
We need to do more and that is why we are continuing to invest with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on the craft apprenticeship programme to address the skills gap across the sector.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:40+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-19