Joe Cooney (Clare, Fine Gael)

That is welcome news. I hope this means we could see more housing developments going ahead in rural parts of the country.

The other issue is the shortage of skilled construction workers. I want to touch on apprenticeships. I do not know whether this is part of the agencies' work but it is important to highlight it here today. There is a shortage of skilled construction workers. Some experienced construction workers are retiring and, unfortunately, there are not enough young people entering the sector to replace them, which is a serious concern. It is helping to drive up costs. While this is not something the LDA and the Housing Agency have control over, it is a significant risk to their capacity to deliver on projects. Do the witnesses have any thoughts about why young people do not seem to want to take up construction apprenticeships? It is disappointing to see this. We have seen this over recent years. Do the witnesses have any thoughts about how we might resolve this and get young people to take up apprenticeships so that we will have skilled workers? This is very important if we want to deliver housing projects throughout the country, not least given the volume of housing we are looking to have developed in the near future.