Mr. Conor O'Connell:

My colleague Mr. Fitzpatrick will add to this. There are 20,000 more people now working in the construction industry than there were pre-Covid. We are doing well in certain trades, electrical and plumbing in particular. There is a challenge around the wet trades: painting, plastering and brick-laying. It is a significant challenge. We are doing our best with different schemes, promoting the industry and so on. Recruiting people into the construction sector is a challenge but recruiting people into any sector at the moment is challenging given the tight constraints that exist in the labour market. However, having said that, with the growth of modern methods of construction and timber frame, insulating concrete forms, ICF, and other types of modular construction, last year the housing output increased by 45% although there was not a corresponding increase in the numbers employed in the industry. We are getting more efficient. There are fewer trades needed onsite but it is continuously a challenge.