The Government is planning on building 33,000 homes each year to 2030.
27,500 jobs in the construction sector are set to be created across the next five years as part of plans to build new homes across the country.
Heather Humphreys and Simon Harris launched the Housing For All FutureBuilding Initiative on Thursday (5 May).
The initiative aims to recruit construction workers to support increasing numbers of builds.
The Government plans on building 33,000 new housing units are to be delivered each year to 2030.
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 2025.
This represents the need for 27,500 additional construction sector workers over five years, or 7,500 workers each year.
“There are now fewer people on the Live Register than pre-pandemic, said Humphreys, the Minister for Social Protection.
“This clearly shows that the Government’s Pathways to Work strategy is delivering but of course we must always strive to do more.
“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 jobseekers, supporting them through training and skills development and matching them with employers.
“This is part of a major recruitment drive in the construction sector.”
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,” the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science said.
“This will mean supporting the industry in returning existing workers to full employment and a significant ramp-up in education and training opportunities, including commitments regarding programmes and apprenticeships and delivery of new courses.
“This new FutureBuilding Initiative will see people from training agencies across the country working with Intreo in the Department of Social Protection to identify people for direct placement into employment in the sector and for referral to relevant education and training opportunities.”
The FutureBuilding Initiative plans on conducting “skills analysis of unemployed/inactive people at a regional/ local level to identify and prioritise training opportunities.”
People who had worked in construction before may be offered further opportunities in the sector.
The initiative also hopes to “use the EURES programme, funded by the EU Commission, to attract and support social mobility of workers from across the EU/EEA to jobs in Ireland”.
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