Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to add to the comments of Deputy Conaghan. It seems more jobs are becoming available as well. There is an issue now in respect of ensuring we have the skills to fill all the jobs being created, now and in the months and years ahead.

Under the Action Plan for Jobs, one of the indicators of performance is the national talent drive. This involves making sure we have a good deal of home-grown talent to fill these jobs, but it will make it a little easier to bring in talent from abroad, when necessary, to augment that supply.

This committee has considered reports over the years which have identified areas like apprenticeships, where we have to change how we do it. The main aim of this year's Action Plan for Jobs is to have a further engagement between industry and the education system to ensure we are developing the skills and the jobs we need.

There may be a role, following on from some of the previous reports, in making that connection.

The new apprenticeship council, which was formed before Christmas, has made a call for proposals from industry, representative bodies and so on for new apprenticeship suggestions. Various Departments are now out beating the bushes to get people, organisations and industries interested and coming in with their ideas. We need to do some work to make sure this happens.

We need to develop schemes that have on-the-job training, involve employers in identifying courses, needs and so on, and make sure they are involved in training and outputs. This is important because there is no point in creating jobs in six months' time if we cannot fill them with people who are living in the country. A lot of work needs to be done and we are focused on it. It is in the Action Plan for Jobs. The committee was part of that in recent years and we need to build on it.

There is an awareness issue, and industry has to step up. There is no point in members of the committee telling people around the country that they could employ 50 or 60 people if they will not get involved in training them to make sure the skills exist. It is a challenge and a sign of recovery, but we have to build on that.