Mr. Jerry Maloney:

The Springboard and ICT skills conversion programmes, on one side, and JobBridge and MOMENTUM on the other, are the two different halves of the solution to the skills agenda. In 2014, there were 38 colleges with 171 courses providing 6,100 places covering the Springboard and ICT skills conversion programmes. Approximately 21 of these courses were in ICT skills conversion. These programmes provided a solution in the ICT industry, in particular, in which currently there are about 1,500 tech vacancies. Even with the number of people coming through, there is still a shortfall in the provision of skills. We are looking at a number of initiatives to deal with this. One is an attraction campaign, on a web portal, to bring talent to Ireland for both indigenous and multinational companies. We are currently tendering for this as part of the Action Plan for Jobs initiative and we will expand on this.

On the specifics of Springboard, ICT, JobBridge and MOMENTUM, employers, at various stages of their growth and of various scales of business, are positive towards it, in a general context. There are people, applicants and employers, who have had a bad experience. Employers will say the quality of the applicant is not quite up to scratch. However, this is to be expected in any programme. One does not expect complete success. However, as a general rule, the feedback received is that these are positive initiatives. From the participant's perspective, approximately two thirds of people have been placed in employment from the JobBridge programme. This is a relative success. The qualification from the MOMENTUM programmes refer also to the self-employed. If a person is signing for credits without getting any payment for being on the live register, he or she can qualify for some of these programmes. There is, therefore, some back-door entry for those who were self-employed and cannot get social welfare payments to go on what is a back-to-work type initiative. This works quite well for individuals who wish to look at re-entry to the workplace.