Mr. Tony Donohoe:

The Leading the Way strategy was the first time that we addressed this in quite a long time, since the SME task force ten or 15 years ago. It was published in 2020. It is relatively early days to see how many SMEs are engaging. There is a multitude of programmes, which is part of the challenge. There is an issue with motivation because SMEs do not necessarily have the time or resources to engage with training. They also might not see the point of training. Those of us who are involved in skills or education see upskilling as a necessary good. SMEs are preoccupied with meeting the challenges facing companies and looking for opportunities to develop. Their customers and staff are their primary concerns. There is a challenge with inserting upskilling into their considerations. Multinationals tend to understand this and have fairly sophisticated strategies in place. It is a matter of getting busy owner-managers in particular to engage with this.

To answer the Senator's question, we have an SME skills task force, which is chaired by the representative groups. It is addressing the matter of awareness. The first tangible work from it is an online benchmarking tool. Skillnet has been working on it. An SME can benchmark and get a basic training or skills need analysis for the business and link it to business strategies. This is the first step on that journey. Later, it can be linked to the appropriate training interventions. This is a cultural shift as much as anything else. The education and training sector has not helped itself with the language that it uses about upskilling, learning outcomes, and other technical language. We need to translate this into a business language that owner-managers can link to their business strategies.

I am conscious that I have not answered Senator Crowe's question about numbers directly. I ask Dr. Power if there are any numbers about engagement.