Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 March 2026
64. Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment if consideration is being given to give a minimum wage to all apprenticeships across the country so that no person is underpaid in work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22013/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe National Minimum Wage Act prescribes the minimum hourly rate of pay for the majority of employees in Ireland, subject to a small number of exemptions.
Pursuant to section 5 of the National Minimum Wage Act, 2000, exemptions from the statutory minimum wage are in place for, inter alia, statutory apprentices.
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 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 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 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.
The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science recently held a public consultation on the development of a new Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2026-2030. The public consultation sought the views of all stakeholders on how the apprenticeship system can be improved, made more inclusive, and better aligned with national skills needs.
The deadline for submissions to the public consultation on the development of the new Apprenticeship Action Plan was last month. Any evidence submitted as part of the consultation will inform the development of evidence-based policy on the exemption of apprentices from the National Minimum Wage.
Finally, it is important to note that while the Deputy’s question refers only to apprentices, the CSO has reported that over 90% of apprentices qualified in 2020 were in employment two years later, with median weekly earnings of €935, or €48,600 annually.
