I welcome the opportunity to set out some of the main actions led by my Department to help alleviate constraints that inevitably arise to meeting labour demand in a full employment economy.
My Department's focus is to ensure that the workforce are equipped with the skills required to deliver Government priorities for residential construction and retrofitting, offshore wind energy and delivery of infrastructural priorities under the National Development Plan.
The initiatives include co-leading, with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, a skills and workforce workstream of the cross-government Offshore Wind Energy Programme.
My Department is developing an offshore wind skills action plan, based on the skills assessment report, “Building our Potential - Ireland’s Offshore Wind Skills and Talent Needs”. This is intended to guide workforce planning by ensuring an alignment between provision and skills and workforce requirements.
Regarding construction skills my Department works closely with partners such as SOLAS, the National Construction Training Campus, Education and Training Boards and professional representative bodies to increase labour supply. There is a significant expansion of relevant courses, including apprenticeships, as well as the development of new provision to address innovations such as modern methods of construction.
Under Housing for All, my Department is delivering initiatives to promote careers in construction. They include the “Building Heroes” peer-to-peer social media campaign and an international campaign to encourage skilled Irish construction workers to return home.
The broad range of initiatives outlined above is playing a very important role in responding to skills requirements to meet Government priorities complementing the vital role to be played by employers themselves in recruiting, retaining and upskilling their workforce.
