Regulatory Impact Assessment - National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill 2025

The National Training Fund (NTF) was established by the National Training Fund Act 2000 (NTF Act), as a dedicated fund to support the training of those in employment, and those seeking employment.

The NTF Act provides for the NTF to be used to fund schemes, which are established to:  

• raise the skills of those in employment, 
• provide training to those who wish to acquire skills for the purposes of taking up employment, or 
• provide information in relation to existing, or likely future, requirements for skills in the economy. 

Budget 2025 delivered a total NTF funding package of €1.485bn over a 6-year period (2025-2030) for the tertiary sector:

• €650m core funding package for Higher Education, addressing Funding the Future commitments by increasing core funding by a further €150m by 2030.
• €600m capital uplift to enable skills development, including facilities in the areas of healthcare and veterinary skills and further education skills; supporting universal access to skill provision; and the research sector (including an increase in the PhD stipend).
• €235m for the tertiary sector as one-off current funding including skills and apprenticeships.

An amendment is required to the NTF Act to facilitate aspects of this NTF funding package.

The key objective of the amendment of the NTF Act is to ensure that the NTF funding package of €1.485bn can be allocated and spent as planned. It is critical that there is no legislative impediment to the provision of this funding.

Following consideration of a number of policy options, it was concluded that the optimal option was to make a limited amendment to the NTF Act to provide for certain funding but not to amend the current purposes of the Act.

There is no cost to the Exchequer of this proposal. The funding will be provided from the NTF which has an estimated surplus of €1.772bn at the end of 2024.

This is an investment in the future of our workforce and our country and underpins the development of human capital and the delivery of national economic, social and regional development objectives.