Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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244. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps he is taking to address the shortage of safe pass courses. [21652/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2013, craft and general construction workers, persons undertaking on-site security work and persons or classes of persons as may be prescribed by the relevant Minister are required to hold a safety awareness registration card (Safe Pass card).

Safe Pass training and assessment is delivered by SOLAS Approved Training Organisations (ATOs) and tutors. These are private providers and neither the Department nor SOLAS have a role in the setting of fees or in influencing pricing structure within the market place. As it is a demand-led programme, class sizes vary. Safe Pass tutors generally teach anything between 10 to 20 participants, depending on the demand. 

Safe Pass training and assessment delivery had previously mirrored construction sector activity during the COVID-19 period and this has now fully recommenced. SOLAS is not experiencing any backlog regarding Safe Pass training provision. From April through to December 2021 aligned with the reopening of Construction, SOLAS issued 83,000 safe pass cards in total.

SOLAS is continuing to work on the development of an alternative online training and assessment delivery model which is equitable with existing Safe Pass, CSCS and QSCS course delivery in being accessible to all eligible workers, providing real time course participant supports and ensuring assessment integrity. First time applicants will be required to complete face to face training and assessment as per the current practice, with a choice of online or face-to-face delivery for those renewing their cards.

In keeping with procurement procedures and government guidelines SOLAS went to tender for this service in June 2021, and will appoint a successful candidate/organisation shortly.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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245. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of persons who have participated in safe pass courses monthly since 1 January 2019, in tabular form. [21653/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Construction) Regulations 2013, craft and general construction workers, persons undertaking on-site security work and persons or classes of persons as may be prescribed by the relevant Minister are required to hold a safety awareness registration card (Safe Pass card).

Safe Pass training and assessment is delivered by SOLAS Approved Training Organisations (ATOs) and tutors. These are private providers who are authorised to organise and deliver Safe Pass training in keeping with SOLAS standards.

Safe Pass training and assessment delivery had previously mirrored construction sector activity during the COVID-19 period and this has now fully recommenced. SOLAS is not experiencing any backlog regarding Safe Pass training provision.

Since 2019, there have been a total of 256,476 new Safe Pass cards issued. The breakdown is as follows:

- 2019 - 105,361 new Safe Pass cards

- 2220 - 70,780 new Safe Pass cards

- 2021 - 80,335 new Safe Pass cards

Please note that the number of new Safe Pass cards issued is recorded on a cumulative basis and not monthly.