Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Construction Safety Licensing Bill 2023. I know a huge amount of work has been done on this at departmental level. In the first instance, it examines the licensing authority and looks at the various challenges with health and safety within the construction industry. There are a huge number of aspects to the Bill, which include looking at the licensing authorities, their decisions and who they are.

Many contributors have spoken about apprenticeships and how we are going to get more people into the construction industry. That starts at a very young age in trying to get people who are well-handed and very gifted with their hands to see there is a trajectory and a career within the construction industry. It goes without saying in the Dáil that the necessity of that for the benefit of society as a whole is paramount.

There are, however, a number of issues in terms of apprenticeships. While I understand the work the Minister of State, the Department and the Government have been doing heretofore to try to get more people involved in apprenticeships, we really have to look at the public bodies. We recently visited a number of precision engineering companies with Mr. Billy Kelleher MEP. They spoke about how they had ready-made people coming through the now-closed sugar factory in Mallow where they were working with heavy steel, and how there were very good apprenticeships. They were equipped for many challenges in any workforce or any factory floor. We have really to look at how we are going to engage and how we will ensure that young people can see there is a way for apprenticeships right across the spectrum. We are dealing with the construction industry, but we also need to look at this right across the spectrum.

To that end, and I know the Minister of State will be aware of this because it abuts his constituency, the now closed Mannix College in Charleville is a fantastic building in which Cork education and training board, ETB, runs some courses. It has a massive amount of potential in terms of having a college of further education. The ETB is working and has a number of courses there, but it could take an awful lot more. It is in a very central place that we would consider right in the heart of Munster. It has the facilities, which have been provided by the Department of Education and the ETB over the years.

We need to look at people we can train there, however. There are many people who can go back into adult education and be upskilled. I see people who go back to education in the colleges of further education. Some would say it is the Cinderella of the education sector. There is massive potential for people to reskill. Some people have life difficulties or mental health or other issues. If there was a targeted approach to try to get those people back into further education or reskilling, they could do anything they put their minds to. They just need a little bit of confidence to get them over the step and through the college gate on the very first day. It transforms people's lives. I have seen people who have done that and benefitted enormously from it. They go on not only to benefit themselves and their families but contribute hugely to society. There is a built facility that should be looked at and expanded in a way that would target people and try to bring more and more people through the education system. When we look at apprenticeships, we talk predominantly about bringing young people into it. There are also people who may have been manual workers who could be retrained on apprenticeships. They could be reskilled and brought in to fill the deficit.

There are many people out there with disabilities and they, too, can contribute to society, depending on their disability. Every week in the Joint Committee on Disability Matters we look at the challenges and shortcomings in society and the opportunities for people. There is a massive opportunity for people. We really need to think about that as well.

In a previous contribution on the transport initiative, the Minister said that one in seven people have a disability. That equates to the entire population of Connaught. If we look at it like that, that is the population of people we are talking about. That is a huge amount of people who are looking for direction or looking for the ability to try to retrain themselves or train themselves in the first instance. There is a massive opportunity for the State but there is also a massive opportunity for people who could benefit and gain enormously from it.

Going back to the Bill, we are looking at licensing and health and safety regulations and bringing it all together as best we can. There is an awful lot more work to do on it. This is one pivotal piece of legislation and it is universally welcomed. We have to look at the shortcomings, however, and what we need in society going forward.

Much of the time when we look at the issue, we see we have a construction crisis because we do not have the workers. Ten years ago, we had a huge number of people who were unemployed because of the construction crash. We need to think forward. What challenge will face us in ten- or 15-years' time? That is the forward thinking we need in terms of making sure we have the right skills available for people and how we are going to address that. We must look at people coming in with the suitable skill sets and knowledge to do work, and the challenges that are there to try to get the work permits and so forth. These are real-life challenges for companies and for society and industry. They are challenges that need to be met as well. This legislation must also make sure that we are not just talking about the indigenous Irish population, but also the new Irish to make sure they fit comfortably and are accommodated within it.

I will make three points to sum up. We have a massive opportunity within Charleville to develop what was previously known as Mannix College. We could enhance the role the ETB is playing in further education. There is a massive population around there, not just in my own area but in Limerick as well. It could be used as a base, and we could have that skill set. We could bring in people who have not been employed in construction before and upskill them to ensure they are properly trained and that there is a proper regulation for them. I commend the amount of work the Government has done with regard to apprenticeships. There is an awful lot more to be done, however. As a society, we have to show and appreciate the work that is being done by the construction industry.

Too often, we criticise and belittle the industry. There are fantastic tradesmen and craftsmen working their daily trade in specialised industries, house construction and everything else. They must be commended on their work. I ask the Minister of State and the Department to look at disabled people, no matter their disability, and find a role for them. There is a role for everybody in society. We must ensure there is a role for them in apprenticeships. We must consider whether those apprenticeships be further expanded. I commend the Bill to the House and thank the House for the opportunity to speak.

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