Mr. Ian Talbot:

In regard to the question of how much funding to put in, it is virtually impossible to know. There are a lot of challenges we have addressed here which, in the scheme of things, do not seem that difficult to solve. The first thing we need to do is solve the things we know could be improved, for example, improving the speed of the turnover. It is disappointing, in a way, to hear that things people have learned during the leaving certificate and so on are being replicated but that is back to people having the time available to focus on what they really need to do rather than just dusting off an old PowerPoint presentation from ten years ago or whatever. A lot of this is just about people having the time available.

There is a real supply and demand issue here in that we know about so many areas - and this in part goes back to Deputy Ó Súilleabháin's question about future industries - such as the wind energy sector. Until we actually do things like start building wind farms again and start to get a pipeline of that stuff evolving, we will not know how many people we will need to employ in that sector. The Arklow Bank wind farm, which we got built 20 years ago, is running out of steam at this stage and we have not managed to build any more. There are so many things that are impacted by decisions we are making or not making, as the case may be, around the economy. There is no doubt that the wind energy sector has great potential, not just for opportunities for apprenticeships and careers but also as a great opportunity for regional development. For example, it will create opportunities in the less urbanised areas of our economy. That would be great, if we could build on it.

It is about flexibility and it is back to terminology like "locking" the National Training Fund. We need to unlock things so we can deploy them quickly in the right areas. That is key.

On the whole area of disability, there are lots of initiatives we have done together. We have worked on equality, diversity and inclusion, EDI, helplines and things like that. It is very concerning to see some of the rhetoric coming from west of our isle around diversity, equity and inclusion, DEI, programmes. It is a really worrying development. In Ireland, we really need to focus. I am wearing my sustainable development goals, SDG, pin. We need to get back to the SDGs. They come up for renewal in 2030. There is still a surprising lack of awareness in the public at large about what the SDGs are. We need to focus on things like that and bring in more employers. Employers would be willing but, equally, sometimes they need incentives as well, so maybe more can be done in the tax system to help with that.