4049. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the average time it took from Phase 1 to completion each apprenticeship, by trade in County Louth in 2025 and to date in 2026, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61246/26]

Apprenticeship programmes in Ireland operate within a national system. There are 16 Education and Training Boards (ETBs) with many covering broader geographical areas than a single county. An apprentice is registered by their employer with the Education and Training Board that covers the region in which their employer is located, rather than where an apprentice is from, lives, or attends training.

Consequently, SOLAS the State agency for further education and training has advised that the requested data cannot be provided for Co. Louth specifically, but that this data is available on a national basis. The attached table shows the median time taken nationally from Phase 1 to completion for each apprenticeship completed in 2025 and, to date, in 2026.

The median time to completion across the craft apprenticeship system for those apprentices who completed their apprenticeship in 2025 was 227 weeks.

At present, the median time to completion across the craft apprenticeship system in 2026 is 230 weeks. As 2026 is not yet complete, the 230 week figure for 2026 can be expected to change, as more apprentices complete their programmes over the remainder of 2026. In addition, a number of the smaller programmes, such as Painting and Decorating and Stonecutting and Stonemasonry are subject to minimum learner number requirements before off-the-job training can commence. Other programmes, such as Aircraft Mechanic, are also subject to fixed training durations, which can impact overall completion times.

The mandatory time for craft apprenticeship certification is a minimum of 208 weeks and processing times for the validation of craft certificates take an additional minimum of 12 weeks.

Louth and Meath Education and Training Board (LMETB) delivers training for 8 craft apprenticeships and 3 consortia-led apprenticeships across various training centres in Co. Louth. Most recently, LMETB launched a new Robotics and Automation Apprenticeship in June 2026.

The Minister is advancing a programme of reform aimed at strengthening the quality and increasing the responsiveness of apprenticeship to workforce needs. Included in this is the ongoing plan to transfer quality assurance responsibilities for apprenticeship from SOLAS and QQI to education providers. This plan represents an opportunity to examine the structure of these programmes with a view to accelerating the delivery of qualified workers in priority areas. Education institutions assuming responsibility for curriculum development will actively explore for example, recognition of prior learning, flexible delivery models and modularisation to shorten programme duration where possible and in line with international best practice and quality standards.

Completion Data .