Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 25 June 2013

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Alternative Ten Point Plan for Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Discussion

2:15 pm

Mr. Ian Talbot:

If one looks back to the good years, Skillnets was a component of training for employers and people in business. At one point, the scheme had a budget of approximately €25 million, although this has since declined to approximately €14.5 million. The large sums FÁS used to spend on training people in employment have been substantially eliminated. As Mr. Murphy indicated, I am a director of Skillnets. While it is a very good model, its budget is relatively small in the scheme of things.