The Government is seeking to reduce the time it takes apprentices to learn key trades from four years to three to address skills shortages in the construction sector.
Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless said he wrote to Solas and Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), two key State bodies that set training standards for apprenticeships, to consider whether the duration of some courses could be cut.
The move is aimed at bringing more skilled workers into the construction and other sectors to address the housing crisis.
He suggested private-sector colleges could also be allowed to play a bigger role in delivering classroom-based elements of some apprenticeships given that current capacity issues in some trades significantly extend the time it takes many apprentices to qualify.
“I wrote to Solas and QQI last week and asked them to consider and asked, as part of a of wider examination of the system, are there ways of expediting some elements,” the Minister said.
“Does a four-year course have to take four years always? Are there courses that could become three-year courses without any dilution of quality?”
The Minister was speaking at the launch of a Dublin Bus initiative that includes a €60,000 fund to encourage people from outside the organisation suggest ways in which it can improve the way it operates through innovation.
He said the State was investing record amounts in apprenticeships and other training but he is keen to consider any measures which might help to address skills shortages in key areas.
The abolition of the sub-minimum wage rates for those starting apprenticeships is not being considered, he said, despite claims it has become a major barrier to recruitment.
Mr Lawless said there was “nothing controversial or new” about workers making sacrifices early in careers that would subsequently provide good earnings.
Connect, the trade union which organises craft workers and apprentices in the sector, said starting rates were a key barrier for many workers who see apprenticeships as a way of changing careers and improving long-term career prospects.
Wages for those starting apprenticeships in the construction sector start at €7.67 an hour, rising to €11.50 in year two and €17.25 in year three. Since January 1st the national minimum wage for adults workers has been €14.15.
“We need to double the number of apprenticeship in construction but the average wage of people starting these apprenticeships is 23 with 46 per cent paying rent and 19 per cent have at least one child,” said Connect general secretary Paddy Kavanagh.
“People in those situations aren’t going to give up a job paying €15 an hour for one that pays €7. They just can’t.”
Mr Kavanagh expressed scepticism about which craft apprenticeships might be cut to three years but said there would be no objection to private colleges becoming involved in training as long as standards were maintained.