Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 October 2025
735. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to detail the take-up of the supports to help achieve a better gender balance in apprenticeships; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53508/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraEnsuring that Ireland’s apprenticeship population reflects the diversity of our society is a cornerstone of the Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021–2025. A key objective within this plan is improving gender balance across all apprenticeship programmes.
In January 2022, as part of the implementation of the Action Plan, government introduced a targeted grant of €2,666 available to employers who employ apprentices from the minority gender on programmes which have over 80% representation of a single gender. This initiative was designed to encourage greater gender diversity in traditionally male or female dominated fields.
As of October 2025, ETBs, via the Apprenticeship Online portal, have reported that 240 employers have been paid the first instalment of this gender-based bursary since 2022. This is a €1,333 entitlement, which employers are due after an apprentice from the minority gender has been employed by them for longer than six months. During the same period, 89 employers have been paid the second instalment of €1,333 due after the apprentice has been employed by them for longer than 18 months.
Since the gender-based bursary’s introduction, we have seen an approximately 75% increase in female participation in apprenticeships, from 1,535 at the end of 2021 to 2,684 by the end of August this year. Women now represent approximately 9% of the overall apprentice population, up from approximately 6% in January 2022.
Of the 78 apprenticeship programmes currently available, 47 qualified for the gender bursary in 2024 and 2025. Notably, 46 of these relate to female participation, with the exception of hairdressing, where male apprentices qualify.
My department also launched the Careers in Construction Action Plan in August 2023 with initiatives to highlight opportunities in construction for women, including a Building Heroes social media peer to peer campaign to dispel the myths surrounding careers in construction which reached more than 3.5 million people in 2024.
The National Apprenticeship Office has also played a vital role in promoting female participation. In 2023, they launched the Facts, Faces, Futures campaign, directly engaging with all-girls schools across Ireland to promote apprenticeships.
Together, these efforts reflect government's commitment to build a more inclusive and representative apprenticeship system, one that offers equal opportunity to all.
