'Sloppiness' in electrical apprenticeship exams makes reform 'essential' – minister

Higher education minister says wider reform of further education and training agency Solas is needed

A trainer teaching apprentice electricians. James Lawless said Solas is 'partly a victim of its convoluted history' as it had been put together from a number of former agencies including Fás and county-level boards of education. Picture: iStock 

There was a “degree of sloppiness” in how electrical apprentice exams were dealt with, the higher education minister has said, after concerns arose that examination papers were being sold.

James Lawless has said there will be an overhaul of training board Solas in the wake of the controversy, with responsibility for apprenticeship exams to be taken off the agency and handed to technological universities and education and training boards.

Solas have since sent a file to gardaí in relation to the possible cheating and exam breaches.

The compromised exam papers have since been withdrawn, affecting only a small number of examinations.

An independent review of the craft electrical programme was conducted by City of Glasgow College, and it confirmed there are no health and safety issues related to the leaked papers.

In an interview with the Irish Examiner, Mr Lawless said he first became aware of the issue ahead of the summer.

'Lack of rigour' in exam process

“There were things like leaked examination papers, what I describe as a degree of sloppiness in terms of the lack of rigour being applied — papers repeating year-on-year without any real variation, massive predictability amongst papers, the next class handing it back to their mates that are a year or two behind them." 

“For a system to work and to produce high-quality graduates or apprentices, there must be a degree of confidence in the examination process to make sure that people are coming out with the training and skills that they need,” he added.

“If that’s lacking, it begins to undermine the whole package.”

Mr Lawless said steps such as garda referrals and reforms to the examination process were “essential” to restore confidence in the system. 

He said he believed there needed to be a wider reform of Solas.

Solas 'a victim of its convoluted history'

“It is a very significant further education and apprenticeship training agency, it’s got a budget of €1bn.

“It’s a very significant impact on the sector and the wider workforce, and I need to make sure it’s as efficient, as targeted, and performing as optimally as it could.

“I think that it’s partly a victim of its convoluted history, that it has come together through the joining together of different agencies,” Mr Lawless said, highlighting its predecessor bodies including Fás and county-level boards of education.

Mr Lawless said these integrations were not done as a proactive move, and there was a need to “overhaul the whole system”.

He said there would be “personnel changes” within the agency as part of the wider reforms, which he is expected to bring to Cabinet in early 2026.

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“I have confidence in the agency, but I just think that there needs to be some enhancement and some evolution,” Mr Lawless said.

He said that, while the review of Solas was prompted by the failings with the electrical apprenticeship exams, he believed it was useful for State agencies to be audited and reviewed on a semi-regular basis.

“Often it’s not done for decades or more,” Mr Lawless said. “But really, I think best practice would suggest that every three to five years, we should look at all of our agencies and make sure that they’re performing.”