Richard Boyd Barrett demands minimum wage for early apprentices

We need about 80,000 additional construction workers to meet our infrastructural needs and goals over the coming years, and that means we have to make apprenticeships much more attractive for people to go into so that we have the tradespeople and the craftspeople to deliver on those infrastructural roles. We also have skills shortages in many other areas, but 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. Do you intend to raise these minimum pay rates for apprentices? We are looking to thank the Deputy for his question. My Department has responsibility for the National Minimum Wage Act of 2000. This Act prescribes the minimum hourly rate of pay for the majority of employees in Ireland, subject to a small number of exemptions. Apprenticeships are excluded from the Act and from the right to receive the National Minimum Wage. Apprenticeships 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 protect apprenticeships exist. 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 apprenticeships would promote and encourage employers to focus on training apprenticeships and offering opportunities to them, while at the same time recognising the cost to employers in terms of time invested and productivity foregone. Apprenticeships are employees of all of the 78 apprenticeship programmes which are undertaken under a contract of employment. For a majority of these apprenticeships, the rate of pay is agreed between the apprentice and the employer, with the employer paying the apprentice during both the on-the-job and off-the-job training element. For the 25 craft apprenticeship programmes, the minimum rates of pay apply under the employment contract which are either agreed with the relevant sector or set out in legally binding sectorial employment orders recommended by the Labour Court. I know that considerations regarding apprenticeships pay may impact learners and employer demand for apprenticeships, while wage levels may present a barrier to entry for apprenticeships for some individuals. Conversely, wage costs and training costs may discourage some employers from hiring apprenticeships. We must consider this issue very, very carefully. What I will say, Deputy, is that on wages alone, while apprenticeships are in training, the CSO has reported that over 90 per cent of apprenticeships that qualified in 2020 were in employment two years later, with medium weekly earnings of €935 and over €48,600 annually. Minister, the average starter age for somebody taking up an apprenticeship is 21 to 22 years old. Now, while many of those are living at home, many are not, some want to get out of home. So if you want to make it attractive, for them to be on a first-year wage of €7.67 or second-year €11.50 is not exactly an attractive option. If they are living out of home, it is completely unsustainable. If they have children, then there are 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, we are failing significantly, 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 apprenticeships. Again, just to thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. Government are taking important steps in regards to supporting apprenticeship programme. We have seen huge investment in recent years in Budget 2026. We have allocated over €78 million to the apprenticeship programme. This investment is delivering significant results. We see the annual apprenticeship registrations increase from 5,326 in 2020 to over 9,352 at the end of 2024. We are very ambitious to drive that to 12,500 by 2030. Indeed, we have in one sense worked with the Department of Deferrs to try and support that. Our focus really is on support and entry, ensuring that we have retention and completion. I think the Government's new action plan on the updated careers in construction 2026 has an important element to that. It specifically looks at barriers to participation, especially for women, but also for those who are underrepresented and those that we can actually include into our construction sector. As you said earlier, we do need to ramp up the number of apprenticeships coming through. Yes, it has increased, Minister, the number of people, but it is still well short of what we need. As we know, we have got a housing emergency, we have got water infrastructure, we have got to develop and we have got shortages in a whole number of areas, shortages of chefs and you name it. We have to make it more attractive. The Further Education Committee is producing a report next week which goes into many aspects of this. But I repeat, 767 for the first year, 1150, if the average age of people going into apprenticeships is 21 to 22, it's just not a runner. Right? It's really... Well, I wouldn't say it's not a runner because some people do it, but that's tough. That's tough going. And if you're talking about the inclusion where there's barriers for women, for people with disabilities, for different groups, this is a serious barrier and we need to do something about it. I mean, this is part of the reason I'm for a state construction company, so we can take on more and better rates, make it more attractive to be an apprentice. But I think, at a minimum, we need to raise those first and second year rates to minimum wage rates. Thank you. Minister. I think we're in all agreement that we do need to address the construction skills gap, and that is very much central to government strategy. What we don't want to do is pricing young people or employers out of the system, and I think that's important to reflect. We are investing in career pathways, educational access, and also 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, apprenticeships aren't at the bottom of the pay scale when it comes to their transition with a skill that they've developed over their apprenticeship programme. And as I said earlier, most who qualify, and two years post-entry into the sector, they're on over €49,000, and I think that's reflective of the programme that they undertake, but also the post-qualification and what that means. And we do need to do more, and that's why we're continuing to invest with the Department of Furs on craft apprenticeship programme to look at addressing the skills gap across the sector. Thank you, Minister. ... ... ...