Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With the agreement of the House, I will share time with the Minister of State, Deputy Collins.

I am pleased to have this opportunity to address the House and present the Bill with my colleague, the Minister of State. The Bill represents an important contribution by my Department, working closely with SOLAS and on the basis of strong engagement with industry and trade union stakeholders, to strengthening the statutory framework for health and safety training in Ireland.

The Bill, as is clear from its title, has a specific focus on helping to safeguard all those working in a key sector of our economy, namely construction. We have experienced in line with the resurgence of the economy, undoubtedly will continue to experience into the future and need to continue to experience substantial growth in our construction workforce. This is essential if we are to meet the major targets we have set under key Government strategies, including the national development plan, NDP, Housing for All and the climate action plan.

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In doing so, the Government is committed to ensuring there is a strong and effective framework in place to protect the health and safety of the construction workforce. The Bill focuses on the very broad spectrum of construction occupations that are at the heart of the performance and productivity of the construction sector overall. These are occupations such as crane and excavator operators, various roadworks operatives, roofers and scaffolders. It is a priority for me and it is wholly aligned with the mandate of the Department that a robust licensing regime is in place for all the relevant occupations.

The primary aim is, of course, that construction workers are properly trained, competent and safe to carry out these roles to protect themselves and those who work alongside them. The licensing legislation, however, also provides an important opportunity to support the professionalisation, productivity and innovation of the construction workforce and to support the workforce through education and training to acquire the skills necessary to work with the new technologies driving the adoption of modern methods of construction. There is a real opportunity in the Bill to get this right.

The Construction Safety Licensing Bill should be seen as another significant reform and advancement for our education and training sector, further confirming the importance and impact of the establishment of the Department and the opportunity it has provided to decisively address long-standing priorities. These include providing a sound legal basis for further embedding safe practices in training by establishing a licensing authority to develop, manage and monitor a licensing model for a range of construction and quarrying activities. These activities are currently certified for life under the construction skills certification scheme and the quarries skills certification scheme, both of which are administered by Quality and Qualifications Ireland. The Bill will move these activities from certificates to licences, which require periodic reassessment for renewal. In doing so, it will provide a clear and explicit legal basis in primary legislation for the education and training requirements of the relevant construction activities.

I will take this opportunity to stress the great importance of training and education for construction workers. Through the introduction of reassessment and renewal in the Bill, there will be an assurance that workers are continuing to carry out activities in a safe and competent manner. It is a fundamental aim of the Bill that in introducing this licensing model, we will continue to minimise the number of accidents and fatalities on construction sites, and continue to minimise the number of grieving families, as we continue to produce highly-skilled workers who are confident, competent and productive in how they go about working in a safe manner.

I will take this opportunity, as I have not had one previously, to congratulate Deputy Mairéad Farrell on her appointment as her party's spokesperson on further and higher education, research, innovation and science. I, along with the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, look forward to working with her constructively on this legislation and other issues.

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