Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are very conscious of this matter. Housing for All is a massive house building programme that the State is undertaking. For that programme to succeed we need a pipeline of skilled workers.

We are also conscious of the State’s obligation in respect of climate change. There is a focus on green skills and the nearly zero energy building, NZEB, centres. I do not have the exact details here but we will let him know how many NZEB centres are being developed. Moneys have been provided in next year’s budget for courses on green technologies and retrofitting and we can supply him with information on where that money is being spent.

In terms of apprenticeships, we acknowledge that due to Covid and particularly due the lockdowns, a backlog built up in the off-the-job training in the craft apprenticeship sectors, which I think everybody accepts. We have provided specific moneys to fund SOLAS to clear the backlog.

Let me outline the amounts because they are big numbers and it is important such information be in the public domain. At the end of October, 10,333 craft apprentices were waiting for access to phases 2, 4 and 6 of their off-the-job training. Almost 6,500 of these were waiting six months or more. Actions taken by SOLAS, the HEA, and education and training providers, along with measures announced in the budget recently, will mean that 40% of those waiting will have access to off-the-job training in 2021 and the plan is to completely clear the backlog by the end of 2022.

We are very conscious of the backlog and it was outside our control due to the public health climate in which we had to operate. We have made clearing the backlog a big priority. SOLAS and the HEA, in particular, have put a lot of work into this matter. In addition, we have put a lot of resources into helping them to clear the backlog.