Ms Meadhbh Costello:

That is an important question. On the infrastructure side, there is a deficit in infrastructure investment across the tertiary sector. It is important that we see investment in laboratories, facilities and training centres that can increase capacity in the education and training sector overall. It is important we ensure that any investment aligns with the intended purpose of the National Training Fund Act, which is for the upskilling and the training of individuals. Certain investments outside that may not necessarily be appropriate for a training fund. We know there have been some proposals, for example, around the greening of tertiary infrastructure stock. While that is important, we think it would be more appropriate if the money came from a different fund because that does not necessarily align with the original purpose of the fund.

On the piece around higher education, there is an extremely high-quality higher education system in Ireland. It has supported our businesses to be more competitive and to grow in scale nationally. It is important that we continue that. We also have the Funding the Future paper and the Cassells report, which set out key areas of reform and growth for the sector. We would like the National Training Fund to be leveraged to bring about some of those transformations, which include improving access to lifelong learning and part-time learning, and improving skills training and the quality of the education sector overall. That is an important step that we would like taken next. We would also like a work programme or implementation plan that would align with that funding and what the strategy states.