Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his detailed response. I appreciate much of what has been said, including his honest appraisal and acknowledgement of the problem. I acknowledge the commitments that have been made and that are ongoing to address this issue, with the provision of new permanent staff and the allocation of temporary staff from other Departments to help. I agree that there is potential for this country to respond in a way that can benefit us all, notwithstanding the difficulties associated with the inflationary measures that have been here longer than one would have expected and which may well be here longer than we would like as well. It is imperative that we have a jobs-led recovery and that they are quality jobs and quality contracts with quality delivery. We should maintain the standards that we have grown accustomed to in many specialist areas such as those I have mentioned.

I appreciate the Government's progress in the provision of apprenticeship courses within the CAO system and the increase in the number of places. I also acknowledge the work that has been done in targeting certain areas. In my constituency, the Construction Industry Federation and Offaly ETB targeted and recognised the potential of the retrofitting programme. I hope to visit there again tomorrow to see for myself the efforts being made to provide the sort of capacity that is needed in that sector to meet the demands of the system. Provisions were announced this week that will be especially relevant for those incremental benefits that can accrue in my region because of people's dependence on solid fuel and oil and so forth. They are in far greater need of action than many others who will be well-placed to take advantage of the €25,000, and more luck to them if they can.

I ask that the Government maintain the effort that is being made to address this issue. There is recognition within the Department of the need to address this speedily and to do so in a way that ensures that companies that have built up a reputation can maintain it and that the quality of our workforce, its products and the expertise associated with it can be maintained and improved into the future. Then that jobs-led recovery can play its part in ensuring that it responds positively, in addition to the Government intervention for the inflationary pressure on our economy.

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