'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.