Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat. That sounds like a good group so I might see if I can join them afterwards with Deputy O’Connor.

Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an Aire Stáit, an Teachta Collins. This marks my first time engaging with the Minister of State in my new role as spokesperson on higher education. As it is also the first legislation that I get to deal with in my new role, I feel that, today, I have reached two milestones in this role in one go. It is my hope that we will have a very positive working relationship. No doubt, there will be differences of opinion, probably strong differences of opinion, but I will strive to engage constructively with the Minister of State. I have no doubt we will share different political views, political values and visions for higher education in the State, yet I believe we can work through arguments and that the Minister of State will see that when I bring forward my arguments, policy documents and legislation, I will always do so in good faith.

I hope these efforts reflect my own belief in the important role that higher education will play when it comes to things like industrial policy, apprenticeships and planning for the economy of the future. I hope they will reflect my strongly-held view that education is a public good, one which unquestionably serves the public interest, and reflect my firm conviction that research, both quantitative and qualitative, is the driving force in the creation of knowledge, not just in the economy but in the wider society in which it is embedded.

In my previous role as spokesperson on public expenditure, when it came to dealing with legislation, I believe the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, and I engaged very constructively, particularly around significant legislation like the new protected disclosures regime and the update to the lobbying regime. We certainly did not always agree. There were times when I felt he did not go far enough and I am sure there were times when he thought I was going too far. However, where we could reach consensus, he was amenable to accepting my amendments and I made sure to acknowledge him in those instances. I feel this is the right way to deal with significant legislation and not to reflexively shoot down amendments by virtue of the fact they originated on this side of the House. I hope this approach can be applied when this Bill and the others the Minister of State will bring forward reach Committee Stage.

With that said, I turn to the Bill before us today. I understand this Bill has a focus on the work the Department is undertaking with regard to Housing for All and the national development plan. I am also aware, and I heard again today, that there are health and safety concerns underlying the Bill. I have seen the Construction Industry Federation's report from last year which showed that workplace accidents in 2021 had increased by 4.3%, which equated to 794 reported injuries. I imagine that any sensible person would be in favour of efforts to improve workplace safety, particularly in a profession such as this, where there are reports of some of the highest levels of workplace accidents. Of course, this has a real-life impact on the people who are impacted by it, those who are working in the sector and, indeed, those who are delivering to construction sites as well.

We also need to remember that a lot of the risks involved relate to working at heights and in adverse weather conditions. One of the many benefits of the use of modern methods of construction, which I have long been urging the Minister of State's colleagues, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, and the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, to consider, is the fact that it addresses these risks specifically. The modern approach moves a significant amount of work from the construction site to the factory floor, to indoor working conditions. The need to work at heights is also greatly reduced. The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science has already undertaken some work in this regard and has been examining the kinds of apprenticeships that will be needed to support greater uses of modern methods of construction here. This is an area in which I am particularly interested and I am sure we will get a chance to discuss it in greater detail. Hopefully it is something that we can move along on and I would very much welcome that.

On SOLAS becoming the recognised licensing authority, it is no harm to have a clear line of responsibility. It should also help to standardise and professionalise the sector. I am aware that on building sites and for construction work in general, some types of tradespeople like electricians or plumbers might have needed to demonstrate their qualifications or have a requirement for a certain sign-off from their respective associations but this Bill brings greater standardisation and professionalisation of work, which is very welcome. If it brings greater accountability for work that is later found to be substandard, that is welcome too. I would like to hear more detail on this and perhaps it can be teased out on Committee Stage. If SOLAS is gaining new powers then it would appear that it is taking on a new role vis-à-visaccountability as well. I am interested to hear exactly how that will work in practice. Will it involve random spot checks or how will it work?

Another thing I have noticed in the Bill, which I appreciate, is an attempt to encourage greater female participation in what is obviously a very heavily male-dominated sector. Sometimes people might say that I also work in a fairly male-dominated sector, although we are getting better. I was looking at figures from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, earlier which show that female participation in the construction sector is at 9% but to be fair, Ireland is not an outlier in that regard. It is a male-dominated sector throughout the world. Countries like Australia have actively tried to encourage greater diversity but even there, female participation in the construction sector is only around 12%, which is only slightly higher than our own rate despite that particular focus. Some Australian states have begun taking steps towards non-binding quotas and so on. For instance, in the state of Victoria, there is now a mandate that at least 4% of labour hours for apprentices and trainees will be required to be performed by women.

Having read the Bill itself and the related documentation, a lot of the attention and focus is on being able to deliver on housing and the national development plan, NDP. I believe the housing and the wider infrastructural deficit is one of the greatest failures of the last decade. We are in a much different position than we were a decade ago. At that time, we were told that we did not have the money to tackle the crisis but that is certainly not the case today. This year we are forecast to run a budget surplus of €10 billion and next year, we are forecast to run a surplus of over €16 billion. In fact, some estimate that we will run surpluses for the rest of the decade. The funds are there but the question is how best to use them. It should be clear that something drastic is needed because right now, we are caught in a vicious cycle. The housing crisis is forcing many young people to emigrate. Many apprentices are looking towards life in Australia. We are in a position where we need more apprentices to build more houses but because of the lack of affordable housing, many of the apprentices we are getting through the system are leaving. Furthermore, those qualified tradespeople who emigrated during the last crisis, some of whom would like to come home, cannot do so because of the lack of affordable housing.

Tá go leor rudaí maithe sa Bhille seo, ach go háirithe i dtéarmaí go mbeadh níos mó ban bainteach leis an earnáil seo. Beidh sé suimiúil a fheiceáil cén bealach gur féidir é sin a dhéanamh. Má bhreathnaímid thar timpeall na cruinne, is fadhb í i ngach áit i ndáiríre. In áiteanna cosúil leis an Astráil, cé go bhfuiltear dírithe níos mó ban a fháil isteach san earnáil sin, ní rabhthas in ann é sin a dhéanamh. Beidh orainn breathnú ar an mbealach ar féidir linn é a dhéanamh. Is rud amháin é atá soiléir ná go gcaithfimid rud éigin a dhéanamh chun cinntiú go bhfuilimid in ann níos mó tithe a thógáil le go mbeimid in ann déileáil leis an drochinfreastruchtúr atá ann timpeall na tíre. Caithfidh mé gur sna ceantair níos iargúlta go bhfeicimid é sin gach uile lá beo ar na bóithre, na droichid agus mar sin de. Tá seans ann leis seo áfach. Beidh an-suim agam é seo a phlé sa choiste agus níos mó eolais a fháil air seo. Ag an bpointe seo, caithfidh mé a rá go bhfáiltím roimh aon rud a chabhróidh leis an earnáil tithíochta agus a bhreathnóidh ar thithe a thógáil agus ar an infreastruchtúr atá ann. Tá mé ag súil le plé níos cruinne a fháil ar an gceist seo. Beidh le feiceáil céard iad na himpleachtaí a bheidh ag an mBille seo ach gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit agus tá mé ag súil le hoibriú leis san am atá amach romham.

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