Conor Murphy (Sinn Fein)

I had considered two questions but, given the vote that has just taken place, I will dispense with the second one. My question relates to what the Minister outlined in response to a previous question about the ability to ramp up investment in infrastructure. I believe it was Deputy McGreehan who asked the question. The Minister mentioned that there is a very low level of unemployment and that there is not a base to pick from to get the necessary workforce together with the required skill levels, meaning that foreign money would not necessarily lead to productive outcomes. There is obviously very significant urgency with regard to renewable energy, investing in the grid, supporting that infrastructure and investing in renewables. There is an ambition for the island to be self-sufficient and to perhaps even be a net exporter. There are targets with associated timeframes in that regard.

I would like to ask whether one particular pool is being considered. There are many people who are very low-skilled. They are not necessarily in the ranks of the unemployed, although significant efforts need to be made to reach into that cohort to provide skills and an ability for people to find ambition. It is similar with people who are working in fairly low-paid jobs. I hope the Minister will forgive me but I do not know the statistics regarding this group. North of the Border, the level of economically inactive people is significant. I believe that level is much higher than the level in this State. Is it an objective to reach into this pool? Not only is it a ready-made pool of available labour, but it is also the right thing to do to try to upskill this cohort, make it more productive and increase productivity and prosperity overall, giving people a chance to play a more significant economic role in their everyday lives and their work. As I have said, I do not know what the levels or statistics are but, when I see documentation coming from the Department of enterprise and the Department of Finance, they sometimes talk about investment at that very high level. Attracting high-level skills is very necessary but there is also a cohort of people whose skills could be brought up to a certain level.