The Government has launched a new initiative to recruit construction workers.
Ministers Heather Humphreys and Simon Harris launched the Housing For All FutureBuilding Initiative.
The initiative aims to recruit construction workers to support increasing numbers of builds.
This initiative will result in the two government departments and related agencies joining forces to spearhead activation and recruitment for the construction sector and drive internal projects to support this work.
A new cross-functional unit that includes staff with expertise in activation, recruitment, and training has been established to oversee this initiative.
The FutureBuilding Initiative is an 18-month pilot which will operate through a team staffed by Intreo from the Department of Social Protection, SOLAS and Education and Training Boards. It is being financed under the government’s Housing for All Implementation Fund.
Humphreys, the Minister for Social Protection said, “Construction is a sector where we know there are huge numbers of job opportunities. Through the new FutureBuilding initiative, we will be working directly with job seekers, supporting them through training and skills development and matching them with employers.”
Simon Harris said that the current housing crisis was “driven by a shortage in supply.”
“However, as supply increases, we need to ensure we have enough people to match the demand,”
Under the government’s Housing for All plan, 33,000 new housing units are to be delivered each year by 2030. To meet this, it is estimated that the total housing construction labour demand will need to rise from approximately 40,000 full-time equivalent workers at its 2019/2020 level to 67,500 workers by the middle of the decade.
This represents the need for 27,500 additional construction sector workers over five years. Currently, 7,500 workers are needed in the sector each year.
The FutureBuilding Initiative is being financed under the Housing for All Implementation Fund, which was established to ensure that sufficient targeted resources and expertise are in place across departments and agencies to expedite the delivery of the Plan.