Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Minister. My phone has been ringing off the hook since it was announced. That is really positive. I know of people in the trades who want to get involved in it. It sends a really clear signal for the next decade that this is a line of work that they can go into. My colleague Deputy Ó Cathasaigh visited the site of excellence in Waterford. He was impressed with it. The message to existing tradespeople is that a couple of days of training are needed in order to perfect their skill, so that we can advance retrofitting and energy upgrades. To people who are considering apprenticeships, I would highly recommend this to them. An area that we should consider is mature apprentices. I trained apprentices for many years. There is a real, clear path for mature apprentices who may be transitioning from high-carbon output jobs into other lines of work. There is a real, sustainable future, as well as good, long-term employment in well-paid and green jobs into the future for the next ten, 20 and 30 years.

I encourage anybody to think about getting into that line of work.

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