Plans to tackle major shortage of building apprentices
Up to the end of June, just four people had started plastering apprenticeships around the country; three had begun apprentice positions learning brick and stone laying; and another three had started their apprenticeships as painters.
Nobody has taken a tiling apprenticeship since 2012. When the sector was booming in the middle of the last decade, more than 1,000 people were registered for apprenticeships in those four “wet” trades alone in the space of just one year.
A spokesman for the Construction Industry Federation said the figures are more positive for some of the other construction trades, with 69 people taking up carpentry; 168 doing plumbing apprentices; 385 beginning electrical apprentices; and 88 metal fabrication apprentices starting this year.
Director general Tom Parlon said: “The apprenticeship figures for the construction sector this year are shocking, particularly in the wet trades. When you see an intake of only three or four people from all around the country starting to learn these skills then you know there is a problem.
“We have to get more people taking up apprenticeships in these trades in the near future. Otherwise we will run into a problem in over the next four or five years.”
In general, an apprenticeship takes four years to complete with a mixture of lectures and fully supervised on-the-job training.
If nobody registers for a particular trade in 2014, that means no fully skilled graduate will become available before 2018 at the earliest.
Mr Parlon said the construction sector has to plan for the years ahead. The Government has said it wants to see the industry double in size over the coming years. “Already we are seeing early signs of growth. In the short-term, as the sector grows and creates more jobs, this will help reduce the number of former construction workers on the live register.
“However if the industry is to grow to the levels expected then we are going to need a lot more people taking up apprenticeship positions. Our industry is very labour intensive and we need to ensure there are lots of new, skilled people coming into the industry.
“We don’t want to face a situation where the industry is held back by a shortage of skills. That is why we have entered into discussions with the Government, the unions, and Solas.
“It takes four years for apprentices to qualify so if we do not fix this problem soon, it will take a long time for the industry and the apprenticeship system to recover.”
