The beleaguered construction sector is set to get a boost with news of a new training initiative.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Mary Coughlan, has just announced details of the training providers which have been approved for an additional €12 million under the Labour Market Activation Fund.

It is targeted at specific priority groups among the unemployed, namely the low skilled, and those formerly employed in declining sectors - construction, retail and manufacturing sectors - with particular emphasis on the under 35s and the long-term unemployed.

The additional funding will support education and training programmes for some 5,400 additional unemployed people and will bring the total number of participant places supported by the Fund to almost 12,000 this year.

The Labour Market Activation Fund, launched by the Tánaiste in March, is designed to assist in the creation of innovative training and education provision by private, not-for-profit and public sector providers.

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Following an open tender competition in which 370 tenders were received, contracts were initially awarded to 26 organisations across the private, not-for-profit and public sectors to support specific training and education programmes for the priority groups.

The Tánaiste said: "I now intend to offer funding to 33 additional projects from a range of private and public training and education providers.

"This will bring to almost 60 the number of projects throughout the country being supported by the Labour Market Activation Fund in 2010.

"'Our commitment of an additional €12 million to the Fund recognises the quality and diversity of the programmes tendered and will bring to 12,000 the total number of persons benefiting from the additional education and training measures."

The Tánaiste added that she was pleased with the capacity of the programmes to accommodate participants of varying experience and educational attainment.

"These programmes give special attention to those whose levels of education might act as barriers to full participation in the established, main-stream training and education programmes."

The Tánaiste concluded: "We put the Activation Fund in place to stimulate innovation in the provision of training and activation measures for jobseekers seeking to up-skill and get back into work.

"The response to the call for proposals for Fund support exceeded the most optimistic expectations and the feedback from the projects already under way is positive."

The 5,400 additional places provided under this scheme brings to more than 165,000, the number of places provided by this Government this year to train, and provide work experience for, those who find themselves unemployed.

(BMcC/GK)