Mr. Tony Donohoe:

I thank the Deputy. I have to confess I have not seen care jobs thus classified but I take his point. Demographic factors will drive the demand for healthcare employment at a huge rate and childcare to a lesser extent. Childcare is a much broader labour market issue that has to be addressed. It is our failure in childcare that has fed into some of our other labour market shortages in encouraging female participation.

I will take the issues separately. Dr. Power mentioned earlier that sometimes these are labour market shortages, sometimes they are skills shortages and sometimes they are a combination of both. There is a challenge in encouraging people into healthcare per se. A new healthcare apprenticeship is just about to be launched. It has taken a number of years to get it across the line. To encourage people into the sector we need to provide formal training opportunities and progression routes. It goes back to my previous point on why apprenticeships are so important. Healthcare is a very important example. People might come in at a particular level but if there are training and progression opportunities we are more likely to encourage people into the sector. Obviously there are debates about pay but this is not the remit of the expert group. It is really the skills agenda, which is particularly pertinent in healthcare. For similar reasons, with regard to the professionalisation of childcare there is the potential to advance child development opportunities. These are my reflections on these two particular sectors.

The Deputy came in on the definition of "green jobs" and what green jobs are out there. It would be nigh on impossible to produce a report on every potential occupation that would be disrupted or newly created because of low carbon targets. We have to be relatively specific, as he said. This was a large report looking at these three areas. We always try to measure the supply side and the demand side. We try to put numbers on the demand side. A particular focus of the EGFSN, for example, is to see that we need X number of ICT specialists, ask how many does the education system produce and try to match up this supply and demand. If the remit of any one research project is too broad it would lose focus. Having said this, I accept the Deputy's broader comments.