Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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2598.To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the €750,000 that was provided towards the Careers in Construction Action Plan covering a wide variety of outreach, engagement and promotion; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31282/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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The Department is running a number of promotional activities this year to encourage more young people to consider a career in construction, and to increase the number of people working in the sector.

These include a peer-to-peer social media campaign, documentary aimed at second-level students dispelling myths around what a career in construction is like, another documentary on Modern Methods of Construction, as well as a targeted international campaign to encourage skilled Irish construction workers living abroad to come home.

I will go into further detail on each of the initiatives below, and outline the status of each of them.

Building Heroes - A peer-to-peer social media campaign

Building Heroes, which launched in April, aims to change perceptions of careers in construction among the 15-25 year old age group by engaging a team of 12 young adults currently working or training in construction, who are sharing their on-the-job stories across social media.

Among the Building Heroes there is a painting and decorator, an architect, an electrician, an MMC technician, and an engineer.

Over two 12-week periods, the young adults are showing the reality of what a construction job in today’s modern world is truly like, tackling the myth that it is simply manual labour on a building site.

The first phase of Building Heroes is ending now in mid-July before it returns for another three months from September.

The combined reach of Building Heroes since the social media campaign began in April is now at almost 2,500,000, while the number of total combined interactions from the public stands are more than 12,500.

Building Heroes Documentary

Aligned with the Building Heroes campaign, but developed separately, the Department has also commissioned a production company to create a documentary around three of the Building Heroes.

This will take the form of a day in the life of one graduate working in MMC, another apprentice electrician and also a BIM trainee.

The 30 minute documentary is due to be completed in September and will then be shared with second-level schools across Ireland with a view to changing perceptions around modern day careers in construction.

Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) Documentary

The 30 minute documentary will feature the views of MMC experts and SMEs and will also highlight international comparisons as well as current MMC development in Ireland.

The documentary will be shared with SMEs later this year to promote the adoption of MMC . The possibility of a wider audience through social and traditional media is also being investigated.

Campaign to encourage skilled Irish workers to return home

The engagement phase of the campaign to encourage Irish construction workers to return home has been completed. Insights have been gleaned from in-depth interviews with key Irish-based industry, as well as focus groups and interviews with Irish workers abroad.

The research has helped the Department to understand the needs, wants and motivations which persuaded construction workers to work abroad and uncovered insights as to how best to appeal to them to return home.

The creative outreach campaign, informed by the research, is currently under development with a targeted social media campaign scheduled for the Autumn.