Ossian Smyth TD, Minister for State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, launched Green Procurement, a training programme to enable the construction sector to play its part in fighting climate change and meet future public procurement requirements, on World Health Day.
“Government spend constitutes between 10% and 12% of Ireland’s GDP,” said Minister Smyth. “This provides Ireland’s public sector with significant influence to stimulate the provision of more resource-efficient, less polluting goods, services and works within the marketplace. As such, the public sector has a responsibility to promote green procurement, in order to support Ireland’s environmental and wider sustainable development objectives. To this end all procurement using public funds will need to include green criteria by 2023. Construction and buildings contribute significantly to emissions and so we are very pleased, on this, World Health Day, to be launching the Construction Professionals Skillnet Green Procurement training programme,” he said.
Dave Flynn, Director of Business Networks, Skillnet Ireland, said “Businesses that proactively address change will safeguard our environment while driving lasting competitive advantage. Supporting business in developing the talent and skills they need to thrive in a low-carbon and sustainable economy is a key priority of Skillnet Ireland. Today’s launch is an important example of how the construction industry is developing its capacity to create a new, sustainable way of doing business.”
“The construction industry has a major role to play in supporting the delivery of infrastructure and built environment which help address climate change and the challenges that our society faces for the foreseeable future,” said Paul Sheridan, Director of Main Contracting, CIF.
“The continued emergence of Green Public Procurement is expected to have an increasing impact on the construction sector, particularly around the contractor’s ability to demonstrate that they can meet the environmental standards specified by their clients,” he said. “CIF is delighted to have partnered with the Construction Professionals Skillnet and Davy Horizons to develop this Green Procurement training programme, which in tandem with its Guide to Supporting Green Construction, will work to support a sustainable construction industry. These initiatives strongly support Government Policy, align with the EPA’s recently published Green Procurement Criteria and detail the practical steps members can take to deliver sustainable construction,” Mr. Sheridan concluded.