Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 103: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the support frameworks that have been put in place for workers affected by the slowdown in the construction industry since December 2008 as outlined in Building Ireland's Smart Economy: A Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal report. [43117/09]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is well aware of the affect that the economic downturn has had on the construction sector and those working in it and has therefore provided a range of labour force measures that will support this particular sector in these difficult times.

As part of the strategy to tackle unemployment, FÁS has put in place measures to double the capacity to cater for the rise in referrals from the Department of Social and Family Affairs. The implementation of these measures has increased the annual referral capacity to 147,000 persons in 2009. Additionally, this year the Tánaiste has almost doubled the number of training and activation work experience places provided by FÁS to over 130,000, which will allow for the retraining and upskilling for amongst others, those individuals previously employed in the construction sector.

As a way of targeting construction workers, FÁS offers green energy and environmental training programmes, which are aimed primarily at redundant construction workers. These programmes are directed towards emerging fields such as renewable energy and sustainable energy, and aim to provide construction workers with the necessary skills in these growth areas.

In relation to redundant apprentices, significant resources have been made available to ensure that combined with existing initiatives, approximately 4,000 redundant apprentices will be able to progress their apprenticeships or receive training. Redundant apprentices may also avail of existing specific skills training courses, which are trade related to enhance their employable skills. They may also avail of the range of trade related night courses, which are available in FÁS training centres.