Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted my Commencement matter is being taken. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. It is nice to have the Minister here. I compliment him on the work he is doing in this area, as well as in the Department of Justice.

Construction is in a little bit of a crisis because very few entrants to third level are going into construction machinery careers. Potential new entrants have nowhere to go if they want training. The Minister knows that if people want to be blocklayers, electricians, carpenters or plumbers there are apprenticeships. That is very good, and I know the Minister is interested in apprenticeships and has done a lot of work on the area. However, it appears that when it comes to construction machinery we have a void.I know SOLAS will launch a new scheme, although I do not know what will be in it. Perhaps the Minister has more information in that regard. People are moving to Australia because, according to them, it is very difficult to get trained in this type of work in Ireland. The Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, construction programme must be run nationwide through education and training boards and local training centres. The course is provided in one location, Mount Lucas. I am sure it is great and I compliment the staff there. However, we need to bring this programme nationwide and adjust to keep up with demand. How will local training companies that have the ability to upskill workers fall into this category?

The SOLAS construction skills certification scheme, CSCS, and quarries skills certification scheme, QSCS, are nearly out of date at this stage. When will they change to the licensing model as submitted to the Seanad by SOLAS? How will that work and when will it come into effect? Will SOLAS add new construction courses to this licensing model to keep up to date with legislative and industry best practice? Currently, this is not the case as the CSCS and QSCS seem to be somewhat out of date. SOLAS needs to tie in with the industry stakeholders to find out what new courses need to be developed in line with their requirements. It needs to train new instructors in line with course requirements. There is a huge shortage of instructors, with massive entry barriers for existing instructors.

The Minister knows, as does the Acting Chair, that we face a massive challenge in the building industry and we need to get this right. I do not expect him to have all the answers today but I ask him to revert to me on some of them. I am concerned about this matter, as are people in the industry. Perhaps the Minister will have some good news today. I know a Bill pertaining to this issue is due before the Seanad. We will see what it brings. We need to up our game and make progress in this area as quickly as possible.