Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome to the House the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and I thank him for being here.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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The Minister is very welcome. This is an issue known to every employer in the construction industry in the country. Safe Pass has become the quintessential example of bureaucratic red tape. It is a system that has become engorged on self-importance and is now treated as a prerequisite for even thinking about entering a building site. The Safe Pass system was introduced at the turn of the millennium and was championed by trade unions as something that will save lives. This has not proven to be the case in the past 20 years. Since its inception the programme has largely been run by retired trade unionists who organise day-long courses that teach basic on-site safety. It is content that all apprentices know a week into their course. It is content such as lift from the knees and not from the back, do not do a two-person job solo and do not walk under machines. It is the stuff most people would not even need to be told.

The course costs approximately €200, which is paid by the employer. At this price we would expect the administration to be top notch but apparently it is not. I spoke to an employer who said the cards are printed in eastern Europe and some workers sit around for months waiting for the plastic rectangle that will allow them to get on the job. Of course this would be much too handy a gig to only get one shot at each worker so SOLAS put an expiry date on the card of four years, after which people have to do a retraining course. It is a constant money mill.

Employers are exempt from the requirement to have a card but almost all of them get one anyway. Otherwise they are subjected to too much hassle trying to get past security on sites. Sometimes the security staff are not aware of the exemption for the employer. These men and women running our construction companies end up sitting through the course just to save time in the long run.

If it were just the Safe Pass perhaps it could be let slide but it seems that every year new safety courses are dreamt up and new cards are required to do anything on site, from manual handling certificates to aerial lift training, green business certificates and American Concrete Institute certificates. One employer told me he saw a young worker with so many cards he needed to carry one of the old-style American fold-out wallets that flip down. He had reams of them.

This system has barely been updated since its inception. There is something very wrong with it. It is simultaneously the laughing stock of the construction industry and the bane of its existence. To think a seasoned construction worker needs to be reminded of safety fundamentals every four years is absurd. If the Minister insists on testing these workers at least let them take it online where a pass would automatically refresh their card, rather than having the nation's workers march off to a function room every few years to watch the same old PowerPoint as on the previous occasion.

In a case taken by Mr. Fergal O'Connor we saw that infinite reassessment was never the plan for the construction industry. What is being done to implement this ruling? When can we expect to see the meaningful change needed in this area for quite some time?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Keogan for raising this important and timely matter. Before I get into the substance let me be very clear that we do need an overhaul of the construction licensing system. We intend to bring forward legislation on this matter shortly. It will give Members of the House and the Senator an opportunity to contribute to ensure we have a modern fit-for-purpose safety system when it comes to licensing of the construction sector.

The Government recognises that changes are required to the broader construction safety arrangements. This is under way and relates to the construction skills certification scheme, the quarries skills certification scheme and the Safe Pass. Safe Pass, as the Senator has said, is a one-day health and safety awareness programme delivered by SOLAS-approved training organisations and tutors. These are delivered by private providers. Under the construction safety, health and welfare at work regulations of 2013, all construction workers in Ireland, including apprentices and trainees, are legally bound to hold a valid Safe Pass registration card. The aim of the programme is to raise the standard of safety awareness in the construction industry and to ensure all site personnel undergo basic health and safety awareness training to enable them to work on site without being a risk to themselves or others who might be affected by their acts or omissions. Candidates who successfully complete the programme will receive a Safe Pass registration card, which is valid for four years.

As the Commencement matter relates to, in April 2017, Mr. Justice Richard Humphreys granted a declaration that SOLAS was not entitled to impose certain conditions of the renewal of construction skills certification scheme, CSCS, and-or quarrying skills certification scheme, QSCS, registration cards. Safe Pass was not encompassed in this specific order and related to the other two registration cards. The key distinction between Safe Pass and the other two cards is that the latter two carry Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, certification. As such, Mr. Justice Humphreys ruled that they were not dependent on post-award ongoing experience, self-certification, auditing or continuing assessment. They already had an accredited qualification.

Later this year, we will move the Safe Pass renewal process online for the first time.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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Fantastic.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The move will be very welcome and I am the first to admit that it is long overdue. Moving the process online will make a significant difference to people and will be a practical way to help them to go about their business. We want people on-site as quickly as possible and we all know that is important. We need to do so in a safe manner and I think that having an online renewal process will help in that regard.

I believe the Senator will also be pleased to know that I intend to bring to Government a new planned licensing model for construction, quarrying and related activities in Ireland within the next two weeks.

On enactment, the proposed licensing of construction activities Bill will replace and amend present legislative provisions, in particular elements of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Quarries) Regulations 2008, and the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2013 as regards the technical competence and safety awareness of personnel performing regulated functions.

The new licensing model intends to replace the current qualification system that exists for the QSCS, CSCS and the Safe Pass schemes. This proposed licensing model will put a formal renewal process in place to ensure workers in construction, and construction-related disciplines, are continuously kept up to date with their health and safety practices. It will provide a very useful opportunity for the Senator, Seanad Éireann and the sector to have an input, thus making sure that we get fit-for-purpose modern legislation to achieve the right balance between making sure that safety at work is paramount but also making sure that it is done in a way that is not overly bureaucratic, overly administrative and uses new technology to provide courses online.

I look forward to bringing these proposals to Cabinet within the next fortnight. I also look forward to myself and my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Collins, engaging on this matter in the House in the coming weeks and months.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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Both the Minister and the Minister of State have been extremely progressive when it comes to legislation and programmes that concern training and retraining. They are probably the two finest Minsters in their respective portfolios and I congratulate them.

Today, we are discussing an important matter as we try to get the construction industry back up and running. Encountering bureaucratic red tape stifles the construction industry. Can the Minister confirm when the courses will be online? I await the legislation on this issue that he proposes to bring before the House.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator. She has shown a great interest in this matter, apprenticeships and the like since becoming a Member.

My best guesstimate is around the month of October but certainly before the end of the year. We are working to make sure that the Safe Pass registration process fully transitions online by the end of the year. I know that the initiative will be very welcome having spoken to representatives of the industry, education providers and people undertaking these courses. In addition, we will bring proposals to overhaul the legislation to Cabinet in the next two weeks. Subject to the timetable of committees in these Houses, we will begin to move through that legislation later this year.

There is an opportunity to modernise by moving the current system online this year and starting to overhaul the legislation this year. We look forward to working with the Senator on the matter. Once we have published the legislation in two weeks, we will be very pleased to give her a full briefing and engage with industry partners on this matter.