Public service apprenticeships are hoped to help bridge the “skills gap” in the economy and could help boost housing supply efforts, ministers have said.
Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris said the government’s Public Service Apprenticeship Plan aims to give people more options in how they are trained and educated for work.
Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe said they hoped non-graduates would apply for the roles, but there would not be a set number of apprenticeships ringfenced for that cohort of applicants.
He also said that the apprenticeships could have “big, positive knock-on effects” on efforts to increase housing supply.
The plan sets out a target to double the number of new public service apprenticeship registrations to 750 a year.
In 2022, 373 were registered with public service employers such as the civil service, the Defence Forces and local authorities.
The apprenticeships – which are full-time paid roles that last between two to four years – offer a qualification recognised by the National Framework of Qualifications.
Among the apprenticeship programmes which are of interest to public service organisations but still in development are architecture technicians and firefighters, and among the possible programmes are housing services managers and entry-level ombudsman investigators.
Speaking to reporters in Dublin, Mr Harris said the apprenticeships would be “robust in terms of educational integrity”, while also practical and paid.
He added that they would also be used to try to fill skills shortages in the public sector.
“It’s about providing the public sector with an opportunity now from this plan to see where are these skills gaps, and how can we help use the apprenticeship model to plug some of those skills gaps,” he said.
“You’ll already see in the plan we’re launching today, we’ve outlined I think about seven areas where we already identified skills gaps,” he added, mentioning cybersecurity, software development and ICT.
“So we’ve done some of that work, but as part of the plan now the new leadership team that has been put in place and co-chaired by both our departments, will carry out more comprehensive skills analysis and see if there’s further opportunities.”
The launch of the Public Service Apprenticeship Plan 2022-2025 today with @SimonHarrisTD marks a really positive step in the right direction. This outlines plans to double the number of annual apprenticeships across the public service to 750 by 2025https://t.co/NzAIHjt9r1 pic.twitter.com/dpmQ4dhNgj
— Paschal Donohoe (@Paschald) August 15, 2023
Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe said that it was important that the applicants for the programmes “stretch well beyond graduates”.
“We really do see the applicants for this training programme stretching well beyond those who may already have graduate qualifications,” he said.
“We are trying to change the paradigm regarding what is seen as an educational qualification … and that programmes like this are a great way of starting off your work life and continuing with learning.”
He said he was particularly interested to see how planning technicians and architectural technicians could have an impact on efforts to increase housing supply and increasing capacity in local authorities.
“It could have really big positive knock-on effects, and I see that as a particularly important part of this programme,” he said.
By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA
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