Mr. Paul Sweetman:

I will add to what Mr. Davitt said. There is a clear picture of what needs to be done. In many respects, the programmes are in place and it might be a matter of bringing them together. There is concern about the 7,000 vacancies, but I wish to reinforce the good work which has been done. We were ranked third in the world by the IMD competitiveness yearbook for the availability of skills in 2013. We have now moved up to first, which is a good improvement. Just because we are first does not mean we can rest on our laurels. We still need to keep on pushing.

There are four or five pillars in terms of tackling the growing skills demand. It is a healthy demand because of the great things many companies who want to invest in Ireland see. Companies want to invest and bring their companies here, and there are also growing indigenous sectors. We have conversion programmes, and that is part of what Skillnets is. Skillnets, another Government programme, supports the conversion of graduates from different fields. We have the traditional third level degree programmes offered by institutes of technology and universities. We now have the associate professional programme.

On the other side, the IDA does great work in attracting companies to Ireland, but we also need to work on attracting people to Ireland. People look at Ireland as a very strong place to invest for their tech companies. Why not look at it as a very strong place for people to invest in their tech careers?

In other words, no longer would it be a big thing for a person just to list a particular company on his or her CV. It would also be a real feather in a person's cap, in terms of his or her tech career, to have worked in Ireland. Those four aspects are very important. We have measures in place in terms of all of them and therefore it is just a matter of bringing it all together.

Touching on what Mr. Davitt said about career guidance, underlying all this is the need to ensure that students and teenagers considering careers - and parents and those who are guiding them - know of the great opportunities available. We have a programme called Smart Futures that is run through Science Foundation Ireland. It promotes tech careers. We need to continue to push this. We are starting to have all of the key elements and there is a reason we are now first in the world for availability of skilled labour. We can do even better. All of those pieces add together. There are two things we need to recognise. Tech companies do not just need tech skills. They need people with critical communication skills and business acumen. Those things are very important for many of the tech companies in Ireland. Non-tech companies need tech skills as well. It is very important to recognise all of the opportunities that are available to this broad eco-system of tech.