Breaking News: women remained dramatically underrepresented in Ireland’s traditional craft apprenticeships in 2025, with new Department of Further and Higher Education figures showing that fewer than one in 50 graduates were female. The data adds fresh urgency to national efforts to widen access to plumbing, electrical, carpentry and motor trades at a time when Ireland needs more skilled workers across construction, housing and infrastructure.
According to the latest official figures, 59 women were among 4,056 people awarded craft apprenticeship certificates in 2025. That means women accounted for just 1.5% of all completions across 29 established craft disciplines. While ministers say female participation is improving, the numbers show that progress in the traditional trades remains slow.
Breaking News Ireland: what the apprenticeship figures show
The figures relate to long-established craft programmes such as plumbing, electrical work, motor mechanics and carpentry. They point to a stark gender imbalance at completion level, particularly in some of the largest construction-linked trades.
- Plumbing: 2 women qualified out of 561 graduates
- Carpentry and joinery: 0 women qualified out of 442 graduates
- Electrical: 31 women qualified out of 2,024 graduates
- Motor mechanics: 13 women qualified out of 259 graduates
For readers following Latest News Ireland on skills, labour shortages and Ireland Housing, the significance is clear. These are trades central to homebuilding, retrofitting, maintenance and the wider construction pipeline. A workforce drawn from only a narrow part of society limits recruitment at a time when demand for skilled labour is rising.
Why this matters beyond Irish News headlines
This is not only a gender equality story. It is also an economic and workforce story with implications for Irish Economy, Business News Ireland and Public Services Ireland. Ireland is under pressure to expand housing supply, upgrade energy systems and maintain critical infrastructure. Apprenticeships are one of the main routes into those jobs.
Low female participation in craft trades means the country is not drawing from the full talent pool. That matters for:
- construction capacity and housing delivery
- regional skills shortages
- employer recruitment challenges
- income opportunities for women in well-paid technical careers
- long-term diversity across the built environment sector
In practical terms, if Ireland wants more electricians, plumbers and carpenters, widening participation is not a side issue. It is part of the solution.
Ministers say the trend is improving
Despite the low completion figures, the Government says the direction of travel is changing. Minister for Higher Education James Lawless and Minister of State Marian Harkin have both pointed to a sharp increase in the number of women entering apprenticeships in recent years.
Official figures show female registrations in craft apprenticeships rose from 129 in 2021 to 226 in 2025. That is a 75% increase over four years. The improvement suggests awareness campaigns, school outreach and financial supports may be helping more women consider routes that were historically male-dominated.
Still, registration growth does not erase the gap at graduation level. Completion data often reflects choices and conditions from several years earlier, because apprenticeships take time to finish. That means today’s intake patterns may not show up fully in award figures until later cohorts complete.
Electrical apprenticeships are one area to watch
Among the traditional trades, electrical apprenticeships appear to be showing stronger movement than some others. There were 222 women registered in electrical apprenticeships in 2025, a notable number compared with other craft areas. Ministers have suggested visibility and role models may be helping encourage more applicants.
If that trend holds, electrical could become an important test case for how targeted promotion, bursaries and public examples can shift participation in skilled trades.
Consortia-led programmes tell a different story
The wider apprenticeship system paints a more balanced picture than the craft data alone. Newer consortia-led apprenticeships, created in sectors such as finance, ICT, education, hospitality and engineering, have attracted far more women.
Female registrations in these programmes rose from 726 in 2021 to 1,032 in 2025. In 2025 alone, 420 women completed consortia-led apprenticeships. That suggests the issue is not apprenticeships as a model, but the persistent gender divide within specific traditional trades.
The most popular apprenticeship areas for women include:
- hairdressing
- finance
- sales
This split matters in Education News Ireland and Ireland Today because it shows participation increases are possible when sectors are seen as accessible, modern and welcoming. The challenge is transferring that momentum into craft disciplines tied to construction and mechanical work.
What the Government is doing
Ministers say several measures are already in place to improve representation. One of the most notable is a gender-based bursary worth €2,666 for apprentices whose gender makes up 20% or less of a course. The aim is to reduce barriers and encourage people to enter fields where they are heavily outnumbered.
Government strategy has also focused on expanding apprenticeships into new industries and increasing the total number of places. A five-year apprenticeship strategy published in 2021 set an ambition that the apprentice population would better reflect the wider population by 2025.
That target has not been achieved in the craft trades, based on the latest graduation figures. However, the broader system has expanded rapidly. There were 9,461 new apprenticeship registrations in 2025, and by the end of July 2026 more than 30,000 apprentices were in the system, including almost 2,900 women.
Background: a long-running imbalance in Irish Politics and policy debates
The underrepresentation of women in manual and construction-linked trades has been a recurring issue in Irish Politics and workforce planning. A Department of Public Expenditure paper published last year found that female participation had grown substantially overall, but most of that growth came from consortia-led apprenticeships rather than traditional craft programmes.
At that point, of 1,950 female apprentices in the system, 1,596 were in consortia-led programmes and just 354 were in craft apprenticeships. That earlier analysis now aligns with the latest completion figures and reinforces the same message: progress is real, but uneven.
There is also a wider industry shift that could influence future numbers. Ministers have pointed to modern methods of construction, often known as MMC, as a potential route to greater female participation. These approaches rely more on off-site manufacturing and new building systems, which may help change perceptions around construction careers and broaden entry routes.
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What happens next?
The immediate question is whether rising female registrations will translate into significantly higher completion numbers over the next few years. That will depend on more than recruitment alone. Retention, workplace culture, employer support and visibility of women already in the trades will all matter.
Key issues to watch in future Ireland Headlines include:
- whether female craft registrations continue to rise in 2026 and 2027
- whether bursaries and outreach programmes improve completion rates
- whether electrical apprenticeships continue to attract more women
- whether housing and construction policy drives stronger diversification efforts
FAQ: What readers need to know
What happened?
Official figures showed that only 59 women completed traditional craft apprenticeships in Ireland in 2025, out of 4,056 graduates.
How small is that share?
It amounts to 1.5%, or fewer than one in 50 graduates.
Which trades had the lowest female representation?
Carpentry and joinery recorded no female graduates, while plumbing had just two women among 561 qualifiers.
Is the situation improving?
Female registrations in craft apprenticeships have risen since 2021, but that increase has not yet produced balanced completion figures.
Why does it matter?
It affects gender equality, labour supply and Ireland’s ability to train enough skilled workers for housing, energy and infrastructure needs.
Conclusion
This Breaking News story highlights a stubborn gap in one of Ireland’s most important training pipelines. Women are entering apprenticeships in greater numbers than before, but the latest craft graduation figures show traditional trades are still overwhelmingly male. The next test for government, employers and educators is whether rising registrations can become lasting change on worksites, in workshops and across the wider economy.
