Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD today marked a major milestone for the Dublin Construction Skills Project, based at Dublin Port, as today’s graduates brought the total number of graduates since 2017 to over 4,000. The project has become a vital source of trained labour for a construction industry facing huge demand for housing and infrastructure delivery.

The event, hosted at the St Andrew’s Resource Centre training facility on Alexandra Road in Dublin Port, also marked the launch of a new booklet published by St Andrew’s Resource Centre documenting the story and impact of the project.

The Taoiseach was welcomed by the Chairman of St Andrew’s Resource Centre, Dermot McCarthy, and the Chief Executive of Dublin Port Company, Barry O’Connell. He toured the training facility, met trainees and then addressed an audience of course participants, community representatives and representatives from a variety of state agencies and training bodies, as well as the construction sector.

Speaking at the event, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said: “Reaching 4,000 graduates is a remarkable achievement with real significance for the country. Ireland needs every skilled hand it can find to build the homes and infrastructure we require, and this project has consistently delivered qualified, job-ready workers into the construction sector. Congratulations to St Andrew’s Resource Centre, Dublin Port Company and all their partners on this milestone, and on today’s booklet, which tells a genuinely inspiring story.”

Barry O’Connell, Chief Executive, Dublin Port Company, said: “We are proud to partner with the Construction Skills Course here at Dublin Port and to welcome the Taoiseach to mark this important milestone. Significant construction is currently underway across the port estate to deliver the capacity required for Ireland’s future economic growth, not least the trade in materials for the building sector. We are highly conscious of the necessity to maintain a continuous pipeline of talent into this vital industry and are delighted to play a role in helping to meet that need through programmes such as the Construction Skills Course.”

Jim Hargis, Manager of the Education and Training Hub at St Andrew’s Resource Centre, added: “Four thousand graduates means four thousand different stories. Stories of hope, stories of success and stories of second chances. From asylum seekers travelling from Galway each day, to people rebuilding their lives after prison, this course meets people where they are and gives them a genuine route into skilled employment. We are hugely grateful to the Taoiseach for joining us today, and to Dublin Port for making this possible.”

The Construction Skills Project was an initiative of St Andrew’s Resource Centre, which in its pilot phase was supported by the Department of Social Protection and Dublin City Council in the context of the Strategic Development Zone in Dublin Docklands. Recruiting local participants proved challenging in the early stages, but St Andrew’s persevered to build the programme into the model it is today, training local workers on the east side of Dublin’s inner city.

The three-week course combines a QQI Level 3 Construction Skills Certification with a Level 4 Retrofitting Assistant Certification, preparing graduates for employment on construction sites. The curriculum includes:

To find out more about the course or to apply, please see: https://www.tehub.ie/tools/