Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 16 December 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement

Engagement with Londonderry Chamber of Commerce and Foyle Port

Mr. Paul Clancy:

Having the right courses and attracting students is important. An example is the medical school. There have been some announcements on that. When there is a course that people want to do, they will travel and live in the location and some actually stay there and continue to live with their families afterwards, or if they do leave, they come back. It is about creating those courses. I do not doubt that if we created a bunch of courses in the north west around green energy people would come to those because they are the jobs of the future and the skills that we are going to need. It is having an overall strategic plan that skills gaps can be filled and making sure that the colleges, further education institutes and universities, are providing the courses that the businesses need in order to develop and grow. If one creates the courses the students will follow.