Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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676. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the way his Department is working with other Government departments and agencies to address labour capacity constraints in the construction sector; and the measures being considered to ensure that workforce availability does not become a bottleneck in achieving housing targets under Housing for All. [48567/25]

Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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677. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide an update on labour market forecasting related to housing delivery; and the way current and projected shortages in construction trades are being addressed. [48568/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 676 and 677 together.

Under Housing for All, my Department engages frequently with other Government Departments and agencies towards increasing and strengthening residential construction sector labour capacity.

Under Housing for All Governance structures the Secretary General Delivery Group includes a dedicated workstream on Industry capability which meets regularly and is attended by my Department, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Department of Social Protection and is Chaired by the Secretary General of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.

Many initiatives to address labour capacity constraints in the construction sector have been implemented under Housing for All and with the oversight of the Industry Capability Working Group. These include:

• A robust system for delivering the skills required in the construction sector. The ‘Report on the Analysis of Skills for Residential Construction and Retrofitting 2023-2030’, commissioned by SOLAS and DFHERIS, quantified the additional construction skills required to deliver the Government’s targets for new housing and the retrofitting of 440,000 homes over the period 2023-2030. For construction specifically, a concerted effort is being made to expand capacity on existing programmes. Budget 2025 saw the single largest investment in core apprenticeship funding since 2020. This investment supports the continued growth of apprenticeship training capacity.
• The Careers in Construction Action Plan outlines structural, promotional and upskilling initiatives to tackle barriers to construction careers, promote career opportunities and make construction jobs more attractive to women.
• The Build Back Home, launched in October 2024, is aimed at skilled Irish construction workers living abroad and encourages them to return home to take up employment in the construction industry in Ireland.
• Additional promotional activities focused on Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) include the National Construction Training Campus located in Mount Lucas, which is also making a significant commitment to increase capacity to deliver MMC skills.
• MMC techniques, which can speed up the delivery of construction projects by between 20% and 60%, is being strongly promoted within Housing for All through additional schemes such as Construct Innovate , Build Digital , Built to Innovate and the Accelerated Social Housing Delivery Program run by my Department.
• The Future Building initiative operates jointly between the Department of Social Protection and Education and Training Boards Ireland and works to match job seekers with training and employment opportunities in the sector.
• The publication of the MMC Action Plan by the Minister of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and oversight of implementation of the plan by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs.