Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 163: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his plans to introduce paid learning leave to enable workers to up skill. [2611/07]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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This Government is committed to the promotion of lifelong learning both as a means of ensuring personal career advancement for workers and of ensuring the skills needs of industry are met. It therefore co-operates with industry and employees by investing significant resources in training programmes for the employed. This year my Department will invest €70m in schemes for the employed. This is more than five times the investment made in 2004.

Any discussion about the question of paid learning leave needs to take account of the respective responsibilities of employers in addressing the skills requirements of their businesses and individuals in their own career advancement. It is therefore not my intention to introduce a universal scheme of paid learning leave.

However, I believe it is worth investigating whether there is a role for the State in intervening further in case of low-skilled workers who would not otherwise engage with or be offered access to training and education programmes. FAS are therefore piloting a small-scale programme over the next eighteen months of paid learning leave for such employees. The results of this pilot will inform future policy in this area.