Education and Training Provision
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-02
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James Lawless (FF), Kildare North

I can absolutely assure the Deputy that I am doing all I can in that space. We have a number of courses in plumbing, electrical, heat pump installation, site supervision, offshore wind turbine maintenance and many others. There is also the adoption more widely of MMC.
Specialist and technical skills are very important but other skills are equally important. The plans we have adopted to date aim to promote skills transferability and include transversal skills. This is something that has emerged from the skills round tables I have been holding with sectors, including the construction sector, very recently. It is coming through from all sectors that while it is desirable to have a technical ability in particular areas, it is even more desirable to have the ability to have portable or flexible skills, leadership or communication skills, teamwork abilities and many skills that transcend one discipline and are multidisciplinary. We have a wider project to ensure that all those kinds of competencies are instilled in all courses, regardless of the discipline undertaken. At the heart of this, and at the heart of the Deputy's question on the courses under the green skills agenda, is making sure that the workforce is equipped to deliver the retrofit programmes and the next generation of energy efficient homes, and of course to take the full opportunity that renewable energy presents to us here in Ireland.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-02/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:14+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-02