Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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714. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps he will take to upskill workers as part of Ireland's renewable energy transition; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66531/25]

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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The development of green skills is key to delivering on cross-government climate policy and the broader green transition and our renewable energy transition. My Department is working with SOLAS to ensure workers are equipped with the skills required to support Ireland’s green transition, from developing transferable green skills for life to specific requirements for emerging green sectors such as Near Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) / Retrofit and renewable energy.

Green Skills 2030 – The First National Further Education & Training Strategy for the Green Transitionidentified the demand for skills related to the shift to renewable energy in sectors such as Construction and Built Environment, Engineering, Energy, and Manufacturing. The Green Skills 2030 Implementation Plan outlines specific objectives and actions to be progressed by FET in collaboration with key partners.

The FET sector is already delivering a range of courses aimed at addressing green skills needs. Upskilling courses in NZEB / retrofit for construction workers are offered through a network of six Centres of Excellence operated by ETBs. These centres offer free, fast, and flexible courses, which are available to all, to boost the skills and training needs of the sustainable construction sector and help reach our climate goals. There have been over 20,200 enrolments in NZEB/ Retrofit courses since the first centre opened in 2020.

I am also happy to inform the Deputy that my Department, SOLAS and other stakeholders in the FET sector are working to address emerging requirements associated with Ireland’s aim to deliver at least 5 GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030.

A cross-Departmental Offshore Wind Delivery Taskforce is driving delivery and working to capture the economic and business opportunities associated with the development of offshore renewables. It includes skills and workforce responses, with DFHERIS leading, in collaboration with Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, on a dedicated Skills and Workforce Workstream.

The main goal of the workstream is to identify the skills and workforce requirements for the development of offshore wind and establish a sustainable workforce and skills pipeline. A key output of this workstream was the publication by this Department of the Offshore Wind Skills Action Planin October 2024.

This Skills Action Plan addresses identified skills shortages in 33 roles required for the development of offshore wind and provides recommendations on how to address these gaps. The plan is designed to guide future activities in the Further and Higher Education sectors for offshore wind in Ireland.

A wide range of short, targeted, and industry-aligned upskilling and reskilling programmes for the renewable energy sector are offered by Green Tech Skillnet including a suite of micro-credentials through the newly established Skillnet Offshore Wind Academy. New micro-credentials will be launched in 2026 to expand the Skillnet Offshore Wind Academy offering.

DFHERIS, alongside SOLAS and Skillnet, is developing a National Offshore Wind Skills Training Hub in order to ensure coordination of ongoing planning, development, and delivery of offshore wind skills training. The Hub will be delivered by Skillnet in the first, 2026, iteration and will be modelled on the existing successful Skillnet MMC Accelerate platform and the Skillnet Offshore Wind Academy. The Hub is envisaged as a tertiary coordinating facility to lead on new programme delivery, existing programme expansion and to serve as a point of contact for industry seeking to engage with the skills system.

My Department is focussed on working with SOLAS and Education and Training Boards to deliver on tangible outputs and outcomes to achieve the Strategy’s objectives.

In addition to these key sectors, a national suite of green skills programmes has been developed by SOLAS in collaboration with enterprise partners in areas such as sustainability awareness and resource efficiency. Green skills modules developing transversal and specific green skills are available to all FET learners with new green skills micro-qualifications being rolled out by all 16 Education and Training Boards.