Mr. Neil McDonnell:

It is based on money. If you run a Skillnet-funded course in your business that costs €1,000 for the day, you will get €300 from us but the employer is spending €700. For every euro the State puts in - which, do not forget, is taken from PRSI, which the employer funds - the employer also puts in twice as much of their own spend when a course is run. Given the funding model whereby the employer has to spend more money on the course than it gets from Skillnet, it is highly efficient and effective, and it is targeted - that is the most important thing.

Our concern is around certain other training funded from the National Training Fund. I saw that an ETB is running a course in Dublin on how to use a smartphone. We do not think that is a good use of taxpayers' money. I spent 12 years in the logistics business. I saw an ETB that does a huge amount of training of mostly young men to drive articulated trucks. Nobody gets a driver's card and drives an articulated truck afterwards. That is a massive waste of taxpayers' money.

When we spend money that within the Skillnet system, the employer is identifying the need and the employee knows they will be bettered if they do that. I have two peoplein my office doing a course on bookkeeping and social media training. It is targeted and useful and the employer pays twice as much as the State, so that is where the payback is.