Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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A key Government priority is to increase and retain the number of people employed in the construction sector. This is essential to the Government meeting its ambitious targets under the National Development Plan, Climate Action Plan, Housing for All.

The Report on the Analysis of Skills for Residential Construction & Retrofitting 2023–2030 outlined the labour market requirement of over 50,000 new entrants into the construction sector for that period to meet current housing and retrofitting targets.

The Careers in Construction Action Plan was developed with an aim to address and minimise barriers to careers in the sector and to help meet national targets. The actions involve changes in structure, training and upskilling, and promotional activity.

The Department’s campaign to promote careers in construction is a combined national marketing campaign for the construction sector. Assisted by funding from the Housing for All 2024 Implementation Fund, it is delivering a cross-partner effort to promote the sector. This is based on research findings regarding the perceived and actual barriers to employment in the construction industry.

Encouraging skilled Irish workers living abroad to return home is just one of a number of promotional initiatives being undertaken in 2024. The Department is currently conducting research to fully understand the motivations of skilled Irish construction workers who have moved abroad, and to identify barriers that may exist to them coming home. The findings of this will help shape promotional activities. As part of this, focus groups/ interviews with Irish construction workers abroad are underway – An Taoiseach Simon Harris joined one such group in London in March.

A large social media campaign, taking a peer-to-peer approach to dispel the myths surrounding careers in construction, is underway. The “Building Heroes” campaign was recently launched as part of this. A documentary on the sector will also be produced and shared with schools nationwide.

Recognising the potential of currently under-represented groups within the sector, the National Apprenticeship Office’s “Facts, Faces, Futures" campaign promotes apprenticeships to girls. This helps to highlight careers in construction. New resources relating to Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) will also be developed, to highlight new opportunities in this growing area.

The statistics the Deputy has requested are currently not available. However, the CSO publication of “Higher Education Outcomes - Graduation Years 2010-2019” suggests that the individuals who were ‘not captured’ as being in employment or education are assumed to have emigrated. For 2019 - the last year of that study - 940 graduates out of 13,980 were not captured, a rate of 7%. However, as the CSO note “there is no definitive indicator of emigration available in the administrative data sources ” and it is not possible to track those who have returned to the country. Furthermore, this data is undifferentiated. It includes both engineering and manufacturing graduates rather than just construction graduates.

Whether the barriers people feel they face to a career in construction are practical, geographical or due to other reasons, the Department is determined to address them. Through commitments under Housing for All and the initiatives provided by the Department and partners, we are providing clear pathways to a career in construction and will continue to promote opportunities in the sector.