The Government has announced funding of €8 million for 10 Institutes of Technology to support an estimated 2,300 additional apprenticeships in 13 different trades.

Minister for Education Richard Bruton, Minister of State for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor and Minister of State for Training John Halligan announced the capital funding on Monday.

They said the Government was committed to more than doubling the number of new apprentices registered to 9,000 by 2020 and expanding further into new areas.

Budget 2018 allocated €122 million for apprenticeship training, an increase of almost 24 per cent on the previous year, the Ministers said.

They said this would allow the delivery of 10 more apprenticeship programmes and over 6,000 more apprenticeship registrations this year.

The funding will enable the ITs to purchase equipment and carry out other work to enable the delivery of new syllabi in 13 existing apprenticeship trades, in areas including mechanical, automation and maintenance fitting, sheet metalwork, aircraft maintenance, brickwork, painting and decorating, and electronic security systems.

An apprenticeship prepares participants for a specific occupation and leads to a qualification on the National Framework of Qualifications.

There were 4,843 new apprenticeship registrations in 2017, bringing the population to 12,849 by year-end. More than 5,000 employers use the apprenticeship system.