Dr. Kara McGann:

Deputy McConalogue asked about meeting future demand for skills. We see employer intelligence at regional and local level as very important. This should involve education and training boards, employers, Intreo and higher education. Small employers in particular have skills requirements but they do not tend to have the bandwidth to engage at multiple levels. Having everybody around the table would assist with this. To echo what Mr. O'Toole mentioned on the false dichotomy between labour market skills and life skills, from an employer point of view both have value, and we see both types of skill as hugely important in an approach to lifelong learning and future skills demands.