Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will focus on two areas. First is the skills shortages around renewable energy, wind energy in particular, but also apprenticeships more generally. In late 2021, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment published Skills for Zero Carbon, which was produced by its expert group on future skills. It looked to assess in exact detail how many people, doing what kind of jobs would be needed to deliver our renewable energy, retrofitting and electrical vehicles by 2030. It estimates that by the end of 2030 we will need an additional 552 wind-turbine technicians and more than 1,300 ships crew and officers for wind alone. Across the three categories mentioned, it estimates that more than 1,700 electrical engineers and more than 100 ecologists and many other professions will be needed, primarily through apprenticeships rather than universities, such as electrical fitters, plasters, carpenters and joiners.

One of the real challenges we have in the context of renewable energy is that it is very often seen as primarily an issue for the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. Yet, the skills and domestic supply chain are as much the responsibility of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment as they are of anyone else. Great work is being done by organisations such as Wind Energy Ireland, which runs a bridging training programme that helps jobseekers who have suitable professional backgrounds to get into the industry through an intensive one-month training programme followed by work placement in industry. They have been putting 30 turbine technicians through the programme each year, which is significant. In the context of what we will require, however, an awful lot more will be needed. As already stated, we will need an additional 552 by 2030.

Good work is under way, but there are two important factors to note. First, we are not training anywhere near enough people to meet the demand that will exist by the end of 2030. Second, there is no guarantee that we can hold onto those have. We are the neighbours of many economies where the renewable energy sector is much more developed than ours. They will potentially have significant competitive advantages over us when it comes to competing with them for people with those skills. A good turbine technician has a skill set that he or she can take almost anywhere. There would potentially be opportunities for them in Scotland, Britain, Denmark or elsewhere. Throughout Europe, there is a huge shortage of the kinds of roles we need. For example, if Scottish wind farms are to move ahead of us in their development pipeline, they will be coming here to look for engineers and turbine technicians to work in Scotland.

Another issue I want to address is that of apprenticeships. I have raised on many occasions in the Dáil, as well as at the relevant committee, the fact that a cultural issue exists. I have made the point that sometimes we measure schools by the number of people they send to university. We should not do that. There are many schools that are not sending young people to university because they have not had the opportunity to do so. There are also schools that are sending too many. Young people are going into universities when they would be far more suited to taking up apprenticeships. There is a cultural issue that needs to be addressed. There is a broad, cross-party awakening to the fact that it needs to be addressed. I acknowledge that the Minister of State and the Minister are aware of the need to address that matter. We will see over the course of time how that works out. That message needs to go into the schools and to be addressed with parents as well.

There is also the need to look at how we improve and freshen up requirements for current apprenticeships. I previously asked the education and training board in my area to look at providing maths support for people who are looking to do an apprenticeship, because the maths requirement can be a barrier for many. I am referring here to apprenticeships such as instrumentation. A solution to that would be to award maths tutor hours to youth services. There are plenty of young people who could enter apprenticeships with a few extra supports. Youth projects are one possible means of support. There is also the issue of day release or block release, which we need to look at. There are different approaches that would suit different employers who can sponsor apprenticeships. Many smaller employers find it difficult to manage. They would much prefer to have an apprentice for four days and for them to take one day off the job, to having a block of six months or 12 weeks. This can be very challenging for small tradespeople.

I have raised this final issue before. In some areas where there is high demand for apprentices, such as electrical and instrumentation, because the pay in industry is so good, it is difficult to find instructors for people in order to clear backlogs. I am not sure what the solution to that is. The industries involved have a potential role to play, because pay for instructors is part of the public sector pay talks. Is there something they could do to assist in clearing the backlogs and to ensure that an adequate supply of people come through in areas such as electrical and instrumentation, where there is high demand?

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