Mr. Tom Parlon:

The deficit, or black spot, is in what we call the wet trades, such as plastering and block laying, and the typical house-building trades. A large number of plumbers and electricians are coming through the system because our mechanical and electrical sector is very strong. We are building for foreign direct investors and we are building data centres and pharmaceutical plants. We are not just building them in Ireland but all over the rest of Europe. That pipeline is very good. The apprenticeship scheme is being considered in terms of its length but that is certainly a very weak spot. New technology, off-site production and so on will probably help. Many are attempting to engineer block laying and bricklaying out of current builds.