Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will tease out matters a little further with the representatives of Enterprise Ireland. There is a considerable opportunity when it comes to off-site construction. We are traditionally held as a nation of builders, particularly in rural Ireland. Longford is a case in point. Mr. O'Colmain said he visited Framespace Solutions. Porteus and Procon are also based in Longford. There are number of leading off-site companies in the county. Procon is working on the manufacture of four or five schools on-site at the moment. Some 90% of the business of Porteus is in the UK at the moment. It is dealing with a number of very big sites.

Deputy Ó Broin mentioned apprenticeships and the need for upskilling. We are seeing in off-site construction that there is an opportunity, particularly for young people, to upskill. I have seen people who came into the industry as entry level labourers and quickly developed a whole new skill set. They can be trained up. It is an area of opportunity and I commend Enterprise Ireland on the work it has done in this area. It is a space we need to get into in places such as the midlands. Longford can become an epicentre for off-site construction.

We visited the Porteus facility recently with the Minister of State, Deputy English, and that was an informative day. The dynamic of construction has changed. Porteus makes pod bathrooms. It is working on a site in south London at the moment. Porteus has four hours to get 80 bathrooms onto site and get out again because time is money in the building trade. People say that off-site construction is going to bring down construction costs. It is not going to do that. The saving relates to time.

The point is to ask what we need to be doing, particularly at local authority level. In fairness to Longford County Council, it is making overtures in this regard. Is this something that Enterprise Ireland and, indeed, the Government needs to be doing? Do they need to tell local authorities they must engage with the off-site sector? We have a high demand for social housing. We need a large number of social houses to comply with the Housing for All plan. Do we need to start prioritising off-site construction?