State training agency Fás said today it would make every effort to help people on apprenticeships who had been made redundant, including changing the rules on their training if necessary.
Some 3,600 apprentices are now recorded as having been made redundant by employers, the body said today.
There are 5,275 apprentices in training with Fás and the Institutes of Technology and 17,000 apprentices working with employers.
Concerns were raised recently about whether a Government scheme to assist redundant apprentices was sufficient to help as many as 3,000.
The scheme, announced by Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Mary Coughlan in December, provides a total of €4 million to assist up to 500 apprentices who have been let go by their employers.
In a statement today in response to queries from The Irish Times last week, Fás said the difficulty created by the "reducing employment opportunities" available to apprentices was something over which it had "limited control".
“Every effort will be made by Fás and the Institutes to enable redundant apprentices to progress through the off-the-job phases and this includes changing the rules where they would, in the past, have impeded the progress of redundant apprentices.
“Apprentices will be allowed progress to the next college phase as quickly as if they were employed, subject to the availability of training places based on the longest waiting.”
Fás said the apprenticeship system was founded on the recruitment of apprentices by employers in the first instance, and on the expectation of continuation with an employer for the duration of the apprenticeship.
“Where there is widespread reduction in the employment of apprentices Fás will do everything possible to try and minimise the impact on individuals. There are however, limitations to the extent to which Fás can create solutions to this element of the apprenticeship.”
The agency said the €4 million Employer Based Redundant Apprentice Rotation Scheme announced by the Tánaiste on December 29th last was “an example of a Fás initiative to positively impact on the employment opportunities available”.
“This scheme will incentivise some employers to provide on-the-job training opportunities for redundant apprentices where they have released their employed apprentices to attend off-the-job training and they have the relevant work available for another apprentice.”
The agency said it would continue to work with other partners “to incentivise or even create some other employment opportunities to help alleviate the downturn in the employment element of apprenticeship”.
Dún Laoghaire-based Fine Gael councillor Mary Mitchell-O’Connor said last week she had been approached by a past pupil who had been made redundant, having completed the first two years of his apprenticeship.
But when he approached Fás he was told there was “only very limited funding” available to support apprentices in this position and he believed it unlikely he would be able to complete his training.
The apprenticeship programme consists of three off-the-job training phases provided by Fás and the Institutes of Technology and four on-the-job phases provided by employers.