Mr. Ian Talbot:

As for the Deputy’s direct question on the National Training Fund being locked up, I am very concerned about that, even with the terminology of it being “locked up”. There is money going into it all the time. As Ms Costello said, it is heading for €3 billion. We should be looking to spend most of what comes in every year as it comes in. Some of this is about habit, that is, the habit of spending it. The private sector will respond if it knows there is a steady stream of funding coming for apprenticeships, training or whatever. The private sector will respond and build up capacity to deal with it. It is important to unlock it. I am not sure why it was ever locked in the first place.

The argument about university facilities is well made too. We know there are many things we need in this economy, but one thing that really strikes home to me at this moment in history is that people entering the workforce today are likely to have to change career multiple times. We do not know what is ahead. The speed at which things are moving is phenomenal. I was reading an article in The Economist over the weekend which talked about our use of Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT instead of Google and the impact that has on advertising on the web. What does that mean for companies that have been focused on learning and drawing down vouchers to advertise on the web, for example? Do we need to find a different way of advertising? So much is happening so fast. People are going to have to move multiple careers and we are going to have to get better and better at lifelong learning and advertising to people. That may be a necessity. People will have to look at potentially multiple careers and prepare themselves for that.

In the context of the benefits of advertising, Dublin Bus is running a great campaign at the moment. It is very visible and highlights the issue. Sometimes, a good advertising campaign can contribute. There are so many things. There is no single solution to any of these things. We need to be doing a lot more, however.