Mr. Tony Donohoe:

I thank the Deputy. First, I will speak on supply capture by the education system. All education systems across the globe are to a degree driven by supply. They tend to be slow in response, sometimes for legitimate reasons. In business we tend to be impatient at the seed of change and the flexibility displayed by the education system but the supply capture is inherent.

That is being addressed at different levels through Government-supported incentives. I offer some examples which I think are particularly interesting and good. There is the technology skills action programme, where numbers are put on the annual outputs of graduates required in high-level areas and what needs to happen under that programme to encourage it. That includes increasing the female supply, as the Deputy mentioned, particularly at second level, where girls have tended not to go into programmes like computer science. Incentivisation through programming will encourage schools and, particularly, higher and further education.

The human capital initiative funded through the national training fund has some interesting, innovative new programmes. One which I am familiar with is the introduction of microcredentials. One way in which the education system has tended not to respond is that education has tended to be available at fixed times of the year, on fixed days of the weeks, for fixed hours in the day and programmes have been of fixed length. The introduction of flexibility and the acquisition of learning in smaller amounts at a time which suits the learner and the employer is probably urgently required. Microcredentials are now the commonly accepted way to do that. Longer courses are divided into bite-sized pieces of learning. All the Irish universities are part of a project to introduce microcredentials. I think that is an exciting development but there are others. There are skills conversion programmes, Springboard, etc. These are sometimes on the margins in the context of the numbers of graduates the Deputy referenced, but they are important interventions.

On skills training in the workplace, it is the motivation and making the case, as I mentioned in our SME conversation, for employers to provide the skills. I do not think we can talk about business in a generic sense here. It is much more a small, medium-size company issue. Larger companies with more sophisticated HR strategies tend to do this. With regard to making this available, members will be aware of and we are a supporter of the Skillnet programme. It is an example of best in class and something I have spoken to international audiences about. It is where groups of employers come together, define their skills requirements as a sector, usually, or sometimes in a region, and then source training. They are co-funded, which means employers have skin in the game and are quite engaged. Expansion of that type of initiative is likely to encourage employers to upskill.

On the urgency around the leaving certificate, this comes up every decade. I do not think there has been huge urgency. Some but not enough progress has been made at junior certificate level to develop these types of learning. Because of the popularity of the leaving certificate in the Irish consciousness and vested interests, the speed of change has been incredibly and frustratingly slow.

Would Dr. Power like to take up the Deputy's question on migration?