Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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416. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the current number of SME construction firms operating in Cork city and Cork county; and the supports his Department is providing to help them scale delivery of starter homes under the new national housing plan. [63862/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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There are 7,616 construction enterprises operating in Cork City and County according to latest figures reported in the CSO Business in Ireland statistics for 2022. More than 99 percent of construction enterprises nationally are SMEs (i.e. employing less than 250).

Supporting SMEs in scaling the delivery of homes is a priority for my Department.

Enterprise Ireland’s Built to Innovate programme is focused on driving productivity and innovation, including Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) adoption, amongst residential offsite manufacturing and housebuilding companies in the domestic market.

Built to Innovate offers different grant aid packages across four areas:

• The Digital package supports the implementation of Industry 4.0, digitally enabled Lean systems to develop offsite manufacturing capability to increase output and produce more complex, higher value products.
• The Lean construction grant package is designed to deliver higher levels of on time and on budget project delivery, through implementing Lean methodologies on the site and the increased use of offsite and near site production.
• The Research & Innovation grant package is designed to support the development of products that will increase Pre-Manufactured Value (PMV), and reduce the embodied carbon, in residential construction.
• And through the Sustainability package Enterprise Ireland can support clients on their journey to sustainability through targeted grants that enable them to develop high impact carbon reduction plans.

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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417. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the barriers identified by construction SMEs in Cork regarding material costs, labour and regulatory burdens; and the actions his Department will take in 2026 to address each item. [63863/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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My Department does not have specific data in relation to the barriers identified by construction SMEs in Cork referred to by the Deputy.

Working through Enterprise Ireland, my Department is helping domestically focused residential construction SMEs to transform their operations to become more productive, competitive and sustainable so as to ensure that homes are delivered at scale, at pace, and with reduced waste, while strengthening business resilience to cost challenges and tightening labour market conditions.

Enterprise Ireland’s Built to Innovate programme helps the residential construction sector and offsite manufacturers improve productivity, adopt Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), and undertake research and development and innovation. MMC, which includes 2D panellised and 3D modular building systems, has the potential to deliver high-quality housing and other buildings with reduced delivery times and reduced costs.

Enterprise Ireland's Built to Innovate supports also include a focus on bringing ‘Lean’ factory process to the site. The use of ‘Lean’ factory processes on the site is new to construction globally. Lean methodologies ‘on the site’ can improve efficiency and reduce waste.

Since its launch, 45 companies — including offsite manufacturers and contractors — have benefited under the Built to Innovate suite of supports. To date, more than €6.5 million in grant supports has been approved by Enterprise Ireland for investment in SMEs in the residential construction sector. Under the Government’s new Housing Plan, Enterprise Ireland aims to double the investment in SMEs by the Built to Innovate programme to date.

My Department through Enterprise Ireland has invested over €13 million to date in the establishment and operation of a new dedicated industry led Technology Centre for construction. Construct Innovate hosted by the University of Galway and working in partnership with other higher education institutions, brings together research and industry to focus on devising solutions for key construction challenges, particularly in the residential sector; including productivity, affordabilility and cost, sustainability, quality and safety, and skills and training. It is driving engagement with the industry and has grown its membership to almost 100 companies, all of which are active in domestic and international construction.

My Department also chairs a cross government and cross agency MMC Leadership and Integration Group to address a range of barriers and enablers to increased adoption of MMC.

More broadly, Pillar One of the the Government’s new Housing Plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities is focused on Activating Supply, is about removing structural barriers to homebuilding — unlocking land, reforming planning, delivering infrastructure and creating conditions for investment.

Increasing skills to enable wider adoption of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) is also critical and will reduce overall labour costs in the construction industry over the longer term. The Department of Further and Higher Education is leading implementation of an Action Plan for MMC skills, developed by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, with secretariat support provided by my Department. The Action Plan recognises that the move to offsite construction can attract and develop non-skilled resources from across other industries, reducing reliance on a limited pool of skilled tradespersons willing to move from site to site. Additionally, skilled labour from other factory environments can be easily transferred to the offsite construction industry. If MMC is widely used, it is estimated that Ireland will need 69,000 new workers, compared to 79,000 under traditional methods — showing how MMC can reduce labour needs.

My Department is also working with DFHERIS and DHLGH to develop a national Demonstration Park for MMC at the National Construction Training Campus at Mount Lucas, which will demonstrate and provide hands-on training in MMC and innovative building methods in real site conditions.

In relation to strengthening labour availability, through my Department, Ireland operates a managed employment permits system maximising the benefits of economic migration and minimising the risk of disrupting Ireland’s labour market. The system is designed to facilitate the entry of appropriately skilled non-EEA nationals to fill skills and/or labour shortages in the State, required to develop and support enterprise for the benefit of our economy. Comprehensive changes to the eligibility criteria for employment permits have been made since April 2019. The result is that most construction occupations, including those which are key to the delivery of housing, are now eligible for an employment permit.

Finally, building regulations are a matter for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. However, the NSAI, as an independent approval body, which operates under the auspices of my Department, plays a central role in enabling new innovative construction products, processes and building systems, not covered by existing construction standards, with a means of demonstrating compliance with the Irish Building Regulations, through provision of Agrément Certification. The NSAI has expanded its MMC Agrément team in response to increased demand from the sector. The NSAI has also recently developed a MMC Agrément toolkit to better inform prospective applicants and help them through the certification process.