Apprenticeship Programmes
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-11
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Donna McGettigan (SF), Clare

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. I welcome that he has been in contact with SOLAS, as have we on the committee. In some cases, we were finding at the committee that someone in Donegal was going to Cork and someone from Cork going to Donegal, both doing the same apprenticeship. It just beggars belief how that happens so I welcome the fact that SOLAS will review, and also fix, this. During recent committees, we heard directly from apprentices about the challenges for their placements. The situation is affecting all ages of apprentices now within a wider age range as the demographic for apprentices has changed significantly, as the Minister knows. There are now more and more apprentices who have families to support and mortgages in one location. This means that their responsibilities at home would be severely impacted as they would need to leave for 12 weeks. It is not sustainable. I welcome the fact that the Minister is going to get SOLAS to look into this. It should stop this whole lottery basis and apprenticeships should be closer to home.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-11