The MBA's Michael McLean said there were signs fewer people were taking up apprenticeships in WA.

The Master Builders Association (MBA) has welcomed an Irish Government proposal for Irish apprentices to complete their training in Western Australia.

The planned initiative emerged after Ireland’s junior Minister for Training and Skills, Ciarán Cannon, met the Western Australian Minister for Training and Workforce Development, Peter Collier last month.

Mr Collier was in Dublin as part of a recruitment drive by the State Government.

Minister Cannon has now revealed more detail and said that the the foreign affairs departments of Ireland and Australia are to progress the talks.

“We agreed that we should mutually explore the possibility of putting in place an inter-governmental memorandum of understanding between both countries, that would provide an overarching framework of support for cooperation in order to facilitate meeting the needs of Australia’s business and Irish workers,” Mr Cannon said.

“It was clearly agreed that this should be at government-to-government level and will need to be conducted through official diplomatic channels involving the ministries for foreign affairs in both States,” he added.

He told the Irish Echo that the Department of Education and Skills had secured support from the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin to progress the initiative.

Shortly, Minister Collier is expected to present the expo’s findings and potential future strategies to the MBA in Western Australia.

The peak body for the construction industry in the state has said it supports the apprenticeship proposal. MBA Director Michael McLean said the building industry could not cope solely with local labour.

“We’re fortunate in some ways that the residential and commercial sector’s been down at the moment and that is masking the demand for labour in the future. It’s the civil engineering and resource sectors that are really booming and that’s actually sucking a little bit of labour to its areas,” he said.

There are signs that fewer people are taking up apprenticeships in the state, he added.

“In some ways [that is] because some young people are side-stepping the apprenticeship training and just trying to find unskilled work in the north-west. Secondly, because of the downturn in the residential and the commercial sectors, it’s deterring some people from entering those sectors of our industry.”

Mr McLean said the MBA would ‘absolutely’ welcome an apprenticeship initiative with Ireland.

“The good thing about attracting labour from Ireland is that the cultural differences are very minimal. Having English-speaking migrants with a fantastic track record of people from Ireland who have already assimilated very effectively in a variety of trades [is positive]… you couldn’t ask for a better source of labour.”

Registered Migration Agent John McQuaid, who writes the Irish Echo‘s Visability column, said it was the Australian Government and unions that will need convincing.

“Bear in mind the current Labor government have just committed $3bn in the last budget to fast-track trades skills training for Australians,” said Mr McQuaid.

“I believe it will be a hard argument to persuade this government that training overseas apprentices provides benefit to Australia … expect a major backlash from unions,” he added.

Minister Ciarán Cannon hopes to see Irish apprentices temporarily working in Australia.

The Kenny Government has engaged with the State Government of Western Australian to explore new sponsorship arrangements for Irish workers, particularly apprentices.

A tentative proposal for Irish apprentices in the construction, retail and hospitality industries to complete their training in Australia is being discussed.

The proposal is the result of Ireland’s junior Minister for Training and Skills, Ciarán Cannon, meeting the Western Australian Minister for Training and Workforce Development, Peter Collier, on July 14.

Mr Collier was in Dublin as part of a recruitment drive by the State Government, which has been vocal about the skills shortage it is facing as a result of the ongoing mining boom.

Enterprise Ireland held a briefing for Mr Collier on what Irish companies could offer to the state’s economy, which is expected to grow by between four and six per cent in 2012 -13.

Mr Collier and Mr Cannon discussed education and training, in what Minister Cannon described as “a very positive and constructive meeting”.

“The Irish and the Australian situations are very similar in that over the next year or so Australia, like Ireland, will see major skill shortages,” Minister Cannon claimed.

“The Australian authorities have indicated that they would like to ‘borrow’ Irish workers for a finite period — two, three or even four years — to fill the void in their skill shortages.

“We in Ireland have in the region of 4,000 apprentices in the construction sector who have not yet completed their apprenticeships and the Australian authorities have
indicated that they are more than willing to explore how completion might be facilitated in Australia.”

Mr Cannon said that the Irish workers and fully trained-up apprentices could then bring their expertise and work experience back to Ireland for the benefit of the Irish economy.

“Both authorities have signalled that they wish to draw up a memorandum of understanding to facilitate these workers to travel to Australia and the Australian authorities have said they will facilitate clearance of the workers in terms of visa, permits and other prerequisites to allow this to happen,” he added.

Following the meeting Mr Collier told The Irish Times: “[Mr Cannon’s] office and my office will be working over the months ahead to work towards an agreement that would assist Irish migrants to come to Australia and make it a much more seamless process.”

Any such agreement would need to be cleared by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

But the Federal Government has played down any contact on a national government-to-government level. A source told the Irish Echo that the Federal Government has not engaged in such dialogue.

Almost 900 people turned up to a seminar about working in Western Australia held in Dublin’s Citywest Hotel on July 14.  Approximately 3,000 had registered for an invitation to the event and 1,108 people were selected.

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