Mr. Declan Hughes:

I thank the Deputy. We are very involved in the crafting of the national development plan because we have significant issues with priorities for infrastructure with regard to indigenous enterprise as well as the foreign direct investment sector. Significant investment is needed in water services, energy infrastructure and road infrastructure. All of these are significant issues for productivity, not just for multinationals but for all sectors of the economy.

We are very involved in that prioritisation process, as well as funding various parts of the capacity within the enterprise base, as I mentioned, whether that is hubs for remote working, regional centres or the capital investment programmes. I mentioned some of the investments we are funding in, for example, the food and agricultural sectors so we can move to higher productivity activities, which means higher output using the same number of people by using automation, artificial intelligence etc.

The Department is also at the centre of the Housing for All strategy. The Secretary General is represented on the overall steering committee as well as a number of subcommittees. We realise that the broader SME base is key to delivering on the objectives and targets set out there, whether that is off-site or on-site construction. Underpinning all of that, we have been doing significant work with the expert group on future skill needs, SOLAS and others to assess the skill needs for the sector as it evolves to deliver on the targets for housing, commercial and industrial building in the short term and the longer term. That goes back to the point the Deputy made about energy efficiency and retrofitting on the residential and industrial sides. Those are significant opportunities for us. We have strong supply chains in those areas for materials, insulation and the technologies that will be needed for the future. As I mentioned, as part of the most recent work permit review, we have increased the eligible areas on the construction side so we can fill some of those gaps. We are also working with other Departments to attract back skills from abroad. We have many graduates and apprentices who have gained experience internationally. The key message to them is that we have a long-term capital investment plan. There is certainty now as to what the investments, job opportunities and job openings will be.

Coupled with that, we still need the apprenticeship system to be attuned with the existing trades and new trades. Such apprenticeships are coming through, especially in the areas of energy efficiency and climate technologies etc. We are continually promoting those and, indeed, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science put a strong focus on apprenticeships as an option for the most recent cohort of leaving certificate students. That will be a continuing focus for us and the expert group on future skill needs into the future.

I will come back to the work of the local enterprise offices and Enterprise Ireland later.