ELECTRIC.IE • The Magazine & Website for the Irish Electrical Industry • 17 Industry News First-ever FET Green Skills Summit focusing on Ireland's transition to a green economy The summit was held in Wexford County Hall by SOLAS, ETBI and Waterford Wexford ETB (Education and Training Board). The conference heard that the green economy is an area of opportunities. The key challenge will be upskilling and reskilling for changes to existing roles, while new green jobs will be a smaller subset. There will be an increased demand for professionals in areas of renewable Energy, Electric mechanics and Heat Pump Installation, Domestic Solar PV installation, and Retro t Engineers. Speaking at the event, Minister Harris said: “Today is an important step in our response to the ‒Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris TDopened the first ever FET Green Skills Summit on the 23rd March. challenge of climate change and the targets we have set for ourselves at a national level. We have to make sure that we have the right training on offer. There is no shortage of availability so attracting people to participate is the challenge we face." “That’s why the offering developed in the WWETB is so important. It’s fast and flexible. We’re not asking people to take months or even years out of their careers to develop the skills in question. Instead pragmatic solutions have been developed which means people can be upskilled in a matter of days for the most part and even online in some cases. And as if that wasn’t enough, the courses are free”. Andrew Brownlee, CEO of SOLAS, remarked: “We have planned this Summit to take a proactive look at the skills needs of industry and to explore how best further education and training can meet these needs. The Climate Action Plan published in 2021 has set ambitious targets for the decarbonisation of our economy and the transition to this new economy will require significant levels of skills across the country in a huge variety of sectors to come to fruition". An interesting panel discussion took place on how best the FET sector can meet the skills needs of the future and support the transition to a green future for Ireland. One in four construction jobs added in 2021went to women This represents 9.1% of the total construction workforce in the country. It is also the highest proportionate level since the CSO started tracking construction employment in 1994. The gures also showed that total construction employment grew by 23,200 over the course of 2021, rising from 135,200 in Q4 2020 to 158,400 in Q4 2021. During that same period the level of female employment in the sector grew from 8,500 to 14,400 – an increase of 5,900. This jump represents 25.4% of the total increase in the Irish construction workforce gained during 2021. ‒According to the latest figures available from the Central Statistics Office, on a seasonally adjusted basis the number of women employed in Irish construction reached 14,400 in Q4 2021. With the construction sector continuing to expand and requiring an additional 1,000 workers per month, the Construction Industry Federation believes that the industry will need to make further inroads into improving the ratio of female employees in the industry. The analysis was presented during the CIF’s International Women’s Day Event held in Clontarf Castle. Among those to participate in conference were women at various stages of their careers, representing a variety of aspects of the industry. Speaking at the event, CIF Director General Tom Parlon said, “Our industry needs more women – from the building site to the boardroom. It is positive to see that there was a signi cant increase in the number of women working in Irish construction last year, but our sector will need to build on that momentum. That means addressing any barriers that are preventing women from viewing construction as a viable career pathway in 2022. “Clearly that also involves breaking any biases that remain in the Irish construction sector. Growth goes beyond numbers, it also has to include expanding our outlook and appeal. I hope to see further progress made on all of these counts this year and over the coming years,” he concluded. www.cif.ie
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