Dáil debates
Wednesday, 15 July 2015
Topical Issue Debate
Apprenticeship Programmes
4:55 pm
Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for selecting this Topical Issue. I will take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister, his staff and the other organisations involved in the Harnessing Our Marine Wealth Conference that was held in Haulbowline last Friday. SeaFest at the weekend was a tremendous success and well attended. I was pleased to hear contributions from the European Commissioner with responsibility for marine issues.
Arising from the conference is the achievable aspiration of developing a far greater maritime, or blue, economy, one that could create an extra 29,000 jobs. I will focus on an idea that continuously arises in Castletownbere, which the Minister is well aware is the location of the Bord Iascaigh Mhara, BIM, regional training centre. I compliment Captain Shane Begley and his staff in the centre. They do an extraordinary amount of good work in preparing young men and women for careers at sea, particularly in the sea-fishing industry. I was pleased to see people like Mr. Declan Power qualifying for a full skipper's ticket in the past week or two based on the work that was done in Castletownbere. More of the same is required.
The college offers a FETAC level 5 course in marine engineering processes, covering vessel construction, main propulsion systems, auxiliary machinery, electrical systems, hydraulic and pneumatic systems, and health and safety and environmental modules, but we need to look beyond those. While there are many trades people, not just in places like Castletownbere, our fishery harbour centres and our ports, small and large, there is a considerable shortage of skills in the mainstream trades that could be adapted to working in the marine sector, for example, fabrication, hydraulics and electrics. I am referring to trades for which it might not be necessary to undertake full FETAC level 5 courses. Trades people could be slowly introduced into courses or modules that would not impact unduly on their own work but would qualify them to conduct some maintenance work, for example, in many ports and harbours.
This issue may be tied into the dearth of trades people in rural Ireland. One of the sad effects of the economic downturn was the loss of a generation from rural Ireland, and many from our ports and harbours. Places like Castletownbere have suffered due to the emigration of people with specific trades.
We could consider more nuanced education or trade studies. Captain Begley in Castletownbere is under tremendous pressure for resources and I would not be naive enough to suggest this would not need resources. It would eventually do so but it is time to start planning and reviewing how we deliver courses for trades to serve the marine industry.
5:05 pm
Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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In common with other sectors, the seafood industry needs a regular supply of suitably trained and skilled personnel to work on board fishing vessels, on fish farms and in processing plants and it needs broader skills around harbour activities. BIM has a long established record of providing the industry with vocational training for appropriate qualifications to work as crew members, skippers and engineers on fishing vessels, and this vital service continues to develop. BIM provides a broad range of Department of Transport and QQI accredited courses through the National Fisheries College, with locations in Greencastle, Castletownbere and Dún Laoghaire. These courses include fishing vessel deck officer and engineering certificates of competency training as well as short duration courses on safety, radio, first aid and other nautical skills.
BIM's mobile coastal training units provide short courses in safety, radio, engineering and navigation at ports around the coast, offering industry practitioners convenient access to necessary training. Courses related to product handling for seafood processors and traders are provided in the seafood development centre at Clonakilty. Developing industry skills is one of the five themes in BIM's current strategy, which addresses the promotion and development of business management skills in the sector through leadership programmes. Attracting potential seafood graduates into the sector is also targeted through the introduction of new seafood business management courses with selected third level institutions. The provision of appropriate skills and training to the sector will underpin the drive towards competitiveness which is the central focus of BIM's strategy.
With regard to fishing operational courses, BIM has committed to provide practical certificate and diploma courses, including essential safety training, leading to recognised qualifications from the Department of Transport and FETAC at the BIM training colleges in Greencastle and Castletownbere; to develop and implement a strategic upgrade of the training programme for sea fishermen with particular emphasis on safety and on professional qualifications; to provide statutory safety and FETAC accredited training places to fishermen, fish farm workers and others working in the sector; to provide relevant courses at various fishing ports through the mobile coastal training units; and to work with industry to improve the occupational health and safety environment for crew serving on aquaculture and fishing vessels and staff working in seafood processing operations.
I take it the Deputy would like to see more of a focus on practical apprenticeships, managed out of his home port of Castletownbere. I will be there on Monday when we can perhaps talk in a bit more detail about what he has in mind. We have an open mind on the subject and we are trying to raise the skill set of coastal communities, not only around fishing and aquaculture but in respect of other marine industries as well. Many of these were explored for their potential at the SeaFest conference last Friday and Saturday, which I know Deputy Harrington attended.
Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge the commitment of the Minister to the maritime and fishing sectors. Places like west Cork have a proud tradition in shipbuilding, particularly in areas around Baltimore, but where I live only one shipwright is left, and he will not mind my saying that he will not be around for very long more as he will be looking to retire shortly, and there is a general dearth of skills. The national maritime college of Ireland is a hugely successful story in terms of the way it attracts graduates and in the way it links to larger elements of the maritime industry, whether that be the merchant marine or other specialities. I am interested in how tradesmen who have a basic skill level for onshore work might be attracted to the maritime sector, whether in sea fishing, the leisure industry, commercial activities or general maintenance in a variety of disciplines. This might allow the industry to up its game in parts of this country where, at the moment, there is not considered to be a future. It would require a different type of thinking from bodies such as BIM. The people of whom I talk may have basic skills, which would not enable them to make a living onshore or to attract work in the offshore sector, but by combining both might be able to satisfy the basic requirements of the industry in smaller ports and harbours. This would provide a varied future for tradespeople in those ports and harbours.
Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is preaching to the converted. The Government is taking a collective approach to create viable coastal communities, whether in fishing, marine tourism, ocean renewables, servicing offshore oil or gas rigs, leisure and sport or technology and design. We think the marine sector will have a turnover of well over €6 billion by 2020 and that should enable us to maintain a quality of life in coastal communities of which we can all be proud. The challenge is to ensure that young men and women growing up in those coastal communities can develop the skill sets to build careers servicing those industries by building their own businesses around those industries, whether aquaculture, fishing, tourism, energy or hospitality. I will happily talk to the Deputy in more detail about it. It might be useful to set up a working group of some coastal Deputies, maybe of Government and Opposition, to explore the possibilities of putting in place apprenticeships about which the Deputy speaks and to improve skill sets in areas that may have been traditionally valuable but may, over time, have become diminished.