Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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671. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of all retrofitting of centres of excellence; the site location for each centre; the anticipated opening date for each centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52254/21]

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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672. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide all levels of training in environmental construction techniques including specific course such as retrofitting and modification of training within construction apprenticeships; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52348/21]

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 671 and 672 together.

General provision in areas such as green skills and sustainability is ongoing across the Tertiary Education sector, with some 50+ programmes already running across the sector aimed at construction professionals at all stages of their career.

This includes on-site retrofit programmes in Waterford Wexford ETB and Laois Offaly ETB, targeted Near Zero Energy Building skills training for existing construction professionals, Skills to Advance programmes as part of the Just Transition response for Bord na Móna employees along with regular reviews of the craft apprenticeship curricula. By the end of 2021, there will be five retrofit centres of excellence - WWETB and LOETB (already in place) plus Cork, Limerick Clare, Mayo Sligo Leitrim.

A number of apprenticeships have developed and transitioned elements of their programmes include provisions for Green Skills. Curricula are updated on an ongoing basis to keep pace with changes in industry practices and regulations. In recent years new construction apprenticeship programmes have been developed in areas such as Geo-drilling (Level 6) and Scaffolding (Level 5). The Wind Turbine Maintenance Apprenticeship currently in development will include best practice in green technology. Five craft programmes are due for full revalidation (including a full review of the curriculum) during 2021; Electrical, Plumbing, Heavy Vehicle Mechanics, Metal Fabrication and Carpentry & Joinery. Work has commenced on the review of a further five craft programmes, four of which are construction activities - Painting and Decorating, Plastering, Construction Plant Fitting and Motor Mechanics. These reviews will not impact the standard four year duration of the existing craft programmes.

Across the Higher Education System, funding has been provided under Springboard and the Human Capital Initiative for programmes which support the development of professionals in areas such as Building Analysis and Climate Adaptation; Sustainable Building Technology and Retrofit, Conservation and Sustainability.

Springboard+ 2020/21 provided 19 courses in construction related areas with 1107 funded participants. Under Springboard+ 2021/22, there are 25 courses available (634 places) in construction related areas such as NZEB, Energy Management, BIM and Electric Vehicle Technology.

Two innovation projects have commenced under the Human Capital Initiative (Pillar 3). These projects are directly supporting increased availability of skills development in the construction sector through the Digital Academy for Sustainable Built Environment (DASBE) in Limerick IT and the REEdl project in IT Tralee which is based on a world leading model of self-directed, project centric learning using Virtual Reality and Augmented reality (VR/AR) in supporting the education of student engineers along with access to world class research centres. Both projects are developing new honours Bachelor of Engineering Degrees, as well as enhancing the delivery of the existing construction and engineering courses. It is expected over the lifetime of the two projects up to 2025 that over 2000 additional student places will be created.