Mr. Tom Parlon:

Our Diaspora is a pool of expertise stored in other jurisdictions at the moment unfortunately. We are trying to target that group. Relocation to Ireland, however, is a major challenge with the cost of car insurance, high rents and lower salaries all cited as issues. We are not making it easy for our Irish people to relocate here. In one area, a skilled worker with seven years experience in construction in Australia, the United States, Dubai or Canada will find that the qualifications he or she gained there are not recognised by Irish authorities.

We have raised this issue for quite a while with SOLAS but it has still not been addressed. We also recommend that the Government introduce a tax allowance for relocation costs to assist the skilled Diaspora return to Ireland and co-fund with industry a marketing campaign to attract people home. Mr. Talbot will probably say there is a skill shortage in his area and right across the board, so we are all competing with each other. We have to promote each particular area, the benefits of each and we will be seeking co-funding for that. Due to the volume of construction activity in the pipeline, we must make it easier for companies to source foreign talent. Similar to other sectors such as information technology, IT, we must now put construction trades on the eligible list for work permits for skilled workers from outside the EU. Due to the introduction in the industry of a minimum wage, recommended by the Labour Court and approved by the Government through last year’s sectoral employment order, these workers will receive good wages and have good conditions. The delays of a minimum of 12 weeks in the work permit section before any permit application is even being considered is ridiculous and does not make any sense in these times of scarce labour supply.

Finally, we need to increase the level of research and development and innovation in the area of construction products and services. Ireland could be an international exemplar in several construction related areas such as data centre construction, building information modelling, BIM, lean construction and other construction practices. To facilitate this, we are asking the Government to establish a national construction research and education forum to increase funding to construction related areas at third level and within the research community.

Delivery of infrastructure is key-----