Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 91: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if her attention has been drawn to warnings from the Construction Industry Federation that some 55,000 construction jobs could be lost by the end of 2010; her views on the accuracy of the forecast; the steps she will take to try to prevent such job losses; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19835/09]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The accuracy of forecasts, nationally and internationally, remain uncertain due to the rapidly changing economic environment. It is however the case that there has been a significant downturn in construction related activity since the beginning of 2008. The number of people in employment is measured by the Quarterly National Household Survey and published by the Central Statistics Office on a quarterly basis only. In the fourth quarter of 2008 (September to November 2008), the most recent quarter for which data is available, there was an annual decrease in employment in the construction sector of 45,900 over the year.

My Department through FÁS, the National Training and Employment Authority, is currently developing a number of responses to the current slowdown in the economy as a whole, including the construction sector. To further assist individuals through the provision of education and training opportunities FÁS are now providing a total of 128,000 training and activation places for the unemployed in 2009. Some of these courses have been specifically developed to meet the emerging need for qualified construction workers in Sustainable Energy Technologies. There are also some courses in development, which relate to this sector such as Micro Electricity Generation, Intelligent Building Systems Control, Thermal Insulation and Passive Housing and Air Permeability Testing of Buildings.

In addition the Government has also established a training fund to provide a timely response to identified training and re-training needs for low skilled and redundant craft workers from the construction sector. This will enable individuals to secure a speedy return to work, or where this cannot be secured, to provide relevant upskilling opportunities in order that job seekers can secure employment in alternative sectors.

My Department and FÁS are also focusing on providing retraining opportunities for redundant construction workers aimed specifically at helping redundant apprentices gain the necessary on-the-job experience, which they require in order to complete their apprenticeship. We have initiated several measures, which will see over 3,600 redundant apprentices being able to progress their apprenticeships this year. The measures to assist redundant apprentices include the employer based rotation scheme, which will assist up to 500 individuals, the agreement between ESB Networks and FÁS to provide training opportunities to up to 400 redundant electrical apprentices and the interim changes introduced by FÁS to enable 2,000 redundant apprentices progress to their next off-the-job phase without having completed the previous on-the-job phases.

Finally, my Department and FÁS will also continue to work in close collaboration with the Construction Industry Federation and other key stakeholders to encourage redundant construction workers to seek re-training in skills which are in short supply in the economy.