Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for coming before the committee to outline their positions on some of these matters. I apologise for being late. I was trying to locate a particular document. Mr. Paul Healy, the chief executive of Skillnet Ireland, recently stated that Ireland runs the risk of becoming a two-speed economy. He indicated that there are reasons the owners of small and medium enterprises, SMEs, do not engage with training for themselves and employees and the distraction factor is probably key. He argues that business owners focus on other priorities, such as filling the next order and making the next sale, which is basic business survival. Skillnet Ireland commissioned Amárach Research to carry out research in the area and a number of reasons arise from the findings for the lack of engagement in training. The first is awareness, because companies do not think there is a need for training, and the second is cost, because companies indicated they could not afford it.

In the context of the basic skills of any economy, we speak about the need for apprenticeships and work permits to allow people into the country when there is a skills shortage. Are we focused enough on training the workforce that is already in the State? What efforts are being made to encourage this continual yearning for self-advancement and training? Could we, as policymakers, encourage the SME sector to better engage with Skillnet and other training avenues to advance the standards of the workforce?

A judgment handed down by the Supreme Court in May 2017 struck down the absolute ban on asylum seekers working on the basis that it was unconstitutional. This forced the Government to finally address the need to reform the direct provision system. There are several thousand people in direct provision and the ban on them working has been deemed unconstitutional. The Government is to bring forward proposals to address some elements of that. Have we looked at the make-up of people in direct provision and the opportunities that we should afford to them, or equally, the opportunities they may afford to us if we allow them not only to work but to avail of training programmes, particularly in areas where they may have competencies of which we are short? Has there been any assessment of the skill sets possessed by those people in reception centres? I abhor those centres in the first instance but that argument is for another forum and another time. What efforts have been made to facilitate these people in training and being allowed to take part in the workforce? What effort has been made to assess that skills base?

There is the broader matter of apprenticeships. There is debate on the need to be responsive to the needs of the economy. The EGFSN is an independent body made up of representatives from the Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, the Higher Education Authority, SOLAS, Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, IBEC and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. What resources are available to that or what is available to implement recommendations and observations? Are there sufficient resources, in view of the fact that economies, and particularly open global economies like ours that very much depend on international trends, need to respond very quickly? Any lag in assessing future skills needs could have a detrimental impact on an economy such as ours, which must be responsible, agile and able to meet basic challenges.

There has been talk of a Brexit-proofing process, not necessarily from our guests here but rather from other organisations. We have a long-standing free movement arrangement with the UK. After Brexit, regardless of whether it comes with a deal or no deal, we will be in a common travel area with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It means that the people in the Republic of Ireland can go to the UK for work and to reside and vice versa. If that is the case, has there been any assessment that in the event of a large labour pool from Europe being cut off from going to the UK, they would draw from this labour pool from now on? We could have major challenges to our competitiveness and labour costs very quickly. A very big economy would effectively have had a large labour pool from the European Union cut off, aside from the part in the Republic of Ireland, with which it would have a common travel area agreement. I do not know how many people are working in the UK from Europe but we can assume it is a substantial number. That may not continue post-Brexit and if that is the case, could we come under pressure? We would be competing with the UK, which would be cut off from the labour opportunities available within the European Union. This is only an observation. Has any assessment to be done in respect of this potential scenario? I am particularly interested in the areas of engineering and medicine, as well as other key areas where there are major skills shortages. This percolates right down to the construction sector.