Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to speak on this Bill. Sa chéad dul síos, I congratulate Tipperary ETB on the fabulous centre it has in Archerstown in Thurles where students are trained in everything from bed repairs for hotel maintenance and the cleaning of rooms in hotels to operating massive bulldozers in construction and everything in between, from chef training to you name it. We need more of that because we have a huge deficit in apprentices.

Deputy Nolan referred to the projected estimates. Where will we get these people? We will not get them. We must recognise the trades. We took our eyes off the ball for years as regards the tradespeople who have completed apprenticeships. They are valuable to our society. Everyone wanted to be in college and to have degrees coming out their ears but we did not have anyone to do the work. We have promises, as we had a correction made to the Dáil record earlier. People were looking at that scheme regarding retrofitting and solar panels eagerly but now we find it will cost a whopper 23% VAT for the person to buy them if they install them themselves.

I will stick to this legislation, which I welcome. I welcome the reform of the Safe Pass, which has been nothing short of a money-making item. As it happened, it has been gobbled up by people with briefcases who got a few courses under their belts before becoming officials. They go in and declare that they and the staff of their businesses have sat the Safe Pass test. It is pathetic to be honest. It does not provide any training. It is a waste of a day and is badly in need of reform.

We must have legislation that protects workers. I value workers. Every employer has good workers who they look after and they look after that good relationship. As my colleagues did yesterday, I decry the people in this House who day in and day out, hour in and hour out, gach nóiméad, attack construction companies, small builders and developers as though they were a plague. We need those people to create work. We need small businesses. We need to be able to do the work and build and get the houses. This is mainly coming from those on the hard left. I do not know what left they are. They did not wear a hard hat anyway and we would never see them near a building site. They do not know what a building site, a cement mixer, a shovel or anything else is. They keep decrying and demonising these people. How will we encourage apprentices to go into this work if they will all be working for cowboys and cabals and horrible people? This must stop. We must respect building companies. The rogues should and must be dealt with. Light-touch regulation was not good for any of them.

Ordinary people want to have small businesses and employ perhaps between one and ten people and businesses want to employ people and help them to work and get work done. We must build the houses and all the infrastructure we need in our communities to allow the houses to be built, including colleges and roads. We should not have to go abroad for these workers. I have nothing against people coming from abroad to work but we did not have anyone to do any work and we badly need it. If we respect workers, they will carry on the work.

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