Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegations.

The Construction Industry Federation, CIF, referred to the lack of finance in the market resulting in pent-up demand. The CIF referred to 60% of funding raised by builders. What has the CIF done seeking the remaining 40% of funding from venture capitalists and investors? We have seen investors from outside the State buying up existing property. With pent-up demand for property, from a potential private investor's point of view, there is a market.

Is there a percentage point above 60% at which the market would tip? Has there been any statistical analysis of this to present to financial institutions?

They are considering their commercial interests as well but that does not take away from the huge number of people on the housing list who need houses and the economic effects of the issue.

In terms of the Restaurants Association Ireland, RAI, and the recruitment of staff, has the shortage of staff forced any of its members to consider the employment models in operation? There is a mixture of permanent, part-time and casual staff and flexibility arrangements in the sector. When I worked in the hospitality industry my co-workers and I were on minimum wage. Has there been any industry pressure on employers to consider productivity? Productivity has increased in recent years with the improvement in the economy, which has created staff shortages. The sector has hit a kind of ceiling but productivity has increased and I assume that, for some organisations, profits have also increased. Companies are out of the situation they were in during 2011 and 2012, if they were lucky enough to survive those years. Has that forced them to consider profit sharing, commission or such schemes that have worked in order to attract staff?

As regards the IFA, as a rural Deputy representing County Limerick and dairy farming being the backbone of my constituency, I am particularly interested to hear more about the skill shortages mentioned in dairy farming and whether there has been any thought on the specifics of apprenticeships that the IFA would like to be put in place. Could that be pushed back onto Government to make that happen because in education there is an increasing consideration of apprenticeships, broadening apprenticeships and moving towards the German model, which provides a broad range of apprenticeships, and growing that part of the economy? That was neglected in the past, both culturally and by Government. From a dairy farming point of view, and as one who worked on a dairy farm in my younger years, what is the minimum requirement for a person to be employed on a dairy farm who does not necessarily wish to pursue it as a career? Has any thought been put into putting training modules or courses in place that could be run through Teagasc or a similar organisation but would have Government backing, or any way to expand in that regard in order to incentivise staff to come in? Eastern Europe was mentioned but there are probably other parts of the EU that may need to be targeted as well as outside the EU because I am all for underpinning the industry that kept the country going through the recession.