Mr. Aidan O'Kane:

Outside of cross-Border tax, this is my passion. As Mr. Clancy stated, we do not wish to be on the leaderboard in this context. There are other leaderboards on which we wish to be represented. Intervention at earlier ages in terms of career advice, businesses getting into schools, offering support to teachers and parents, providing guidance and identifying what are the jobs for the future is absolutely essential in terms of getting to the people who will be in the economically inactive category in five or ten years' time and putting them on the right path. There is a role the chamber can play in helping the business community to make that intervention. The businesses will help themselves in the meantime as well. They will help to carve out a skills pipeline that will match their needs going forward. It is a slow burner but it is absolutely essential.

Not every child should go to university to do a law degree or become a doctor or a nurse or whatever it is. There are many really great and well-paying jobs that do not require the standard path through university where one comes out with significant debt and may not even get a job. There are other roles that we, as a business community, can put in front of parents and teachers and say that wee Johnny or Mary will have a great career and a great life on this particular journey. I refer to academies and things like that. FinTrU and Alchemy Technology Services are prime examples of taking individuals who do not have science, computer science or engineering degrees and training them, putting them in particular roles and giving them all the support and skills needed to do the job. Those people are building fabulous careers. There is a different way. There is no doubt that intervention is needed in the north west.