In a test case with implications for some 7,000 apprentices, two apprentice electricians have taken a High Court challenge to a decision that they must each pay €223 in student service fees to get the results of their examinations.
Without their results, apprentices cannot obtain their National Craft Certificates.
The test case is against the State-training agency FÁS and the Dublin Institute of Technology.
The eventual result could affect some 7,000 apprentices who are likely to be similarly affected at a cost of €2 million in fees, according to sources in the Technical Electrical Engineering Union (TEEU).
The two apprentices who have brought the action are Mr David Glennon, Rowlagh Crescent, Clondalkin, Dublin, and Mr Brendan Keogh, The Rise, Kingswood Heights, Tallaght, Dublin.
They were given leave by Mr Justice Peart yesterday to seek a number of declarations, in- cluding that the imposition by the DIT of a fee on them for their attendance on block release for training and education with DIT, on foot of their employment as statutory apprentices, is in excess of the powers of DIT.
The apprentices also want a declaration that the levying of a fee directly against them by DIT amounts to an unlawful deduction from their wages.
A further declaration seeks to establish that FÁS has acted outside its powers in facilitating DIT to impose a fee on them in respect of their training on block release.
An order is also being sought directing FÁS and DIT to release the applicants' examination results without the payment of any fee.
The apprentices also want an injunction restraining the respondents from continuing to withhold their results.
In court yesterday, Mr Saul Woolfson, for the apprentices, said the decision to apply the charge failed to have regard to their status as apprentice employees.