Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 21 March 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills

Implications of Brexit for the Irish Educational System: Discussion

4:00 pm

Ms Triona McCormack:

I will make a brief point which might address what Senator Gallagher was talking about but also the skills agenda the Chairman mentioned in the context of jobs. We talked earlier about the fact that there are openings now at the Commission's negotiating table. We had always looked to the United Kingdom as a friendly face at the negotiating table. A gap is opening up. Others will fill the gap. The UK were heavily positioning themselves around the digital and cloud strategy in the European Union. That plays to Ireland's strengths. We can kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, and try to attract infrastructure investment, as well as research funding while developing a very strong skill base for our future ICT sector. The questions might be about the opportunity and the cost, but we need to look at this is in terms of the return.