Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

However, is there not a problem for the 18- or 19-year-old who wants to get into construction or one of the trades? Their parents are likely to suggest that is well and good but they should try college first. When he or she comes out of college, they are no longer the hands-on tradesman with the callouses and welts with a lump hammer and a shovel doing the work; they are the foreman or the quantity surveyor. While it is very important that we have them, we are focusing on the high end of the construction trade without the labouring beneath.

I ask the Chairman to give me latitude for one minute to ask a supplementary question. I hope the CIF has a position on planning and I would like to hear it. Some very strategic projects in the mid-west have been held up by objectors in Dublin. As someone living in Clare, I would never in a month of Sundays see fit to object to something in Dublin or far removed from where I live because it does not impact me. What is the CIF position on that? Have its representatives articulated that to the Department?