2026-02-19

2. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment whether he will increase the minimum wage for apprentices to address the construction sector skills gap. [13853/26]

We need about 80,000 additional construction workers to meet our infrastructural needs and goals over the coming years. That means we have to make apprenticeships much more attractive for people to go into, so we have the tradespeople and the craftspeople to deliver on those infrastructural goals. We also have skills shortages in many other areas. There are many aspects to making it more attractive to take up apprenticeships but increasing the minimum payment, particularly in the first few years of apprenticeships, is critical. Does the Minister of State intend to raise these minimum pay rates for apprentices?

My Department has responsibility for the National Minimum Wage Act 2000. The Act prescribes the minimum hourly rate of pay for the majority of employees in Ireland subject to a small number of exemptions. Apprentices are excluded from the Act and from the right to receive the national minimum wage. Apprentices are excluded from the National Minimum Wage Act in recognition of the unique nature of apprenticeships and the fact that a long-established practice for determining rates, which adequately protects apprentices, exists. Apprenticeships offer a unique combination of education and work experience. When the national minimum wage was first introduced, it was recognised that providing an exemption for apprentices would promote apprenticeships and encourage employers to focus on training apprentices and offering opportunities to them while at the same time recognising the cost to employers in terms of time invested and productivity forgone. Apprentices are employees and all of the 78 apprenticeship programmes are undertaken under a contract of employment. For the majority of apprenticeships, the rate of pay is agreed between the apprentice and the employer with the employer paying the apprentice during both on-the-job and off-the-job training elements. For the 25 craft apprenticeship programmes, the minimum rates of pay applying under the employment contract are either agreed within the relevant sector or are set out in legally binding sectoral employment orders recommended by the Labour Court. I know that considerations regarding apprentice wages may affect learner and employer demand for apprenticeships. Wage levels may present a barrier to entry to apprenticeships for some individuals. Conversely, wage costs and training costs may discourage some employers from hiring apprentices. We must consider this issue very carefully. While I take the point about apprentices in training, the CSO has reported that over 90% of apprentices who qualified in 2020 were in employment two years later with median weekly earnings of €935 and over €48,600 annually.

The average starter age for somebody taking up an apprenticeship is 21 to 22 years. While many of those are living at home, many are not, and some want to get out of home. If the Minister of State wants to make it attractive, a first-year wage of €7.67 per hour or €11.50 per hour in the second year is not exactly an attractive option. If they are living out of home or if they have children, it is completely unsustainable. There are then added things like equipment costs, which are very significant for many apprentices, transport costs and so on. We have got a major problem in delivering on our housing goals. We are failing significantly. We are tens of thousands short of what we need annually in terms of houses to put roofs over the heads of the people in this country. We have to make it more attractive and that means raising these pitifully low wages, particularly in the first and second years for apprentices.

The Government is taking important steps with regard to supporting the apprenticeship programme. We have seen huge investment in recent years. In budget 2026, we allocated over €78 million to the apprenticeship programme. This investment is delivering significant results. We have seen annual apprenticeship registrations increase from 5,326 in 2020 to 9,352 at the end of 2024. We are very ambitious to drive that to 12,500 by 2030 and, indeed, we have worked with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to try to support that. Our focus is on supporting entry and ensuring that we have retention and completion. The Government's new updated action plan on careers in construction for 2026 is an important element of that. It specifically looks at barriers to participation, especially for women, but also for those who are under-represented and those we can include into the construction sector because, as the Deputy said earlier, we need to ramp up the number of apprenticeships coming through.

The number of people has increased, but it is still well short of what we need because, as we know, we have a housing emergency, we have water infrastructure that we have to develop and we have shortages in a whole number of areas, including a shortage of chefs. We have to make it more attractive. The further education committee is producing a report next week which goes into many aspects of this. I repeat that the wage for the first year is €7.67 per hour and for the second year is €11.50 per hour. If the average age of people going into apprenticeships is 21 to 22, it is just not a runner. I cannot say it is not a runner because some people do it, but it is tough going. If the Minister is talking about inclusion and the barriers that exist for women, people with disabilities and different groups, this is a serious barrier and we need to do something about it. Part of the reason I am in favour of a State construction company is so we can take on more apprentices on better rates and make it more attractive to be an apprentice. At a minimum, we need to raise those first-year and second-year rates to minimum-wage rates.

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.