Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 1 March 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills

Future Funding of Higher Education: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. Andrew Brownlee:

On the point about engaging with micro enterprises, that is an area where ETBs are very well placed because, as we said at the start, they are involved in every community in Ireland. They know the local employers and businesses. We have implemented a scheme called Skills to Advance, which offers free or very close to free upskilling and training for employees. We have a green skills initiative for the hospitality industry, 50 Shades Greener. Retrofitting has been rolled out at Mount Lucas and in Waterford and Wexford. We have courses on remote working and leadership management supervision digital skills. They are the type of skills that every micro enterprise is going to need to take the next step.