Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy very much. I will try to address each of the points raised. The Deputy's first and last points come to the same conclusion, that is, how we attract people into the construction sector to build the homes we so desperately need, the roads, such as the one in Mallow, we so desperately need and so much else beyond. With regard to apprenticeships more specifically, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the Minister, Deputy Harris, have done an awful lot of work to bring apprenticeships within the CAO system and to make them a far more attractive destination for many school leavers or, indeed, those who are looking to change career or retrain or reskill for various reasons at any given stage of life.

The SEO under discussion today does two things. It provides clear rates for apprentices. A category A worker will receive 33.3% of the craft rate in year 1, 50% in year 2, 75% in year 3 and 90% in year 4, so there is good remuneration for apprentices. The SEO also demonstrates that the very minimum salary expectations for people entering professions such as those of scaffolder and heavy machine operator represent a really decent starting salary that is considerably higher than the overall national minimum wage and what is identified by as a living wage. These are just minimums. The Deputy asked whether any research had been done into whether these rates are actually the rates paid in the sector. I challenge him to find a scaffolder who is working at this rate. Most are working at much higher rates. Unfortunately, that is the nature of the very tight labour market we are seeing at the moment. One of the consequences of having effective full employment is that much more power is in the hands of the employee with regard to seeking higher wages.

The market is competitive and we see people move from site to site or from job to job searching for better pay, conditions, or for the level of stability referred to by Deputy Louise O'Reilly. In terms of operators based outside the State, if they come here to work they will be expected to meet the terms and conditions of operating in the State, including salaries. That is, if they come to the State for a decent period of time. If someone just comes to do a day's work it is difficult to work out the salary based on that but if an Irish company is sending their own workers to work outside the site, offshore, or something like that it would of course be expected to meet the obligations of the sectoral employment order, SEO.

The impact of inflation has obviously been taken into account as part of this because it concerns all workers, not just those in the construction sector. That is why we have seen so many measures such as more than €12 billion of direct intervention by the State in the last budget and many more measures for workers such as increasing the minimum wage level and an ambition to reach the living wage in due course. The measures also look at areas such as the cost of childcare, public transport, short-term energy spikes and everything like that to provide sustainable supports that will allow people to overcome the worst of the cost-of-living measures. For those who are not working or are not in a position to work, there are the three different welfare payments that will be made this week for people with disabilities, carers, pensioners or those on a working family support payment.

Regarding the chronic shortage of mechanics across the State in every sector, this is something that I have received representations on not just from the Deputy. I have received them from Deputies all across the country, from Dublin, Mayo, Cork, Donegal and Westmeath about the need to get mechanics into general workshops and garages but also particularly in the haulage sector. We have a distinct shortage of people in every work category at the moment but mechanics and drivers in the heavy goods vehicles, HGV, sector is an acute concern. Not only does it feed into the overall labour shortage but it has a knock-on effect on Brexit. I did not think I would be back talking about Brexit so soon but it is quite clear that the post-Brexit changes to cabotage and supply chain management in the UK have had a major effect on logistics in this country as well. We are absolutely looking for more haulage drivers to come from the prescribed countries. I think that more than 300 work permits were issued last year to qualified drivers from South Africa. There are options in other countries and we will examine that list. In terms of the specifics of moving mechanics from the ineligible list, the process of the critical skills list is under review. We have a traffic light system of green, amber or red and so moving someone from red to amber, or indeed from red straight to green, is under consideration. I welcome representations, not just from individual Members of the Oireachtas but crucially from those in the sector who can demonstrate quite clearly that they cannot find work, not just in Ireland but also within the UK and across the European Union. There are sectors where staff can come in on a basis, be it short term or longer term, from within the European Union. More than 30,000 workers from EU member states came to Ireland last year for professional reasons. When we look at other countries that could supply mechanics, be it Brazil or other countries outside the European Economic Area, EEA, it is something that we will look at but on an evidence basis and I agree, anecdotally, there is a shortage. There is a huge waiting time to get a car serviced at a garage or to get an appointment for a national car test, NCT, so we do and will bear that in mind.