Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Central Statistics Office, CSO, has published figures that show 50,000 extra people have been employed in the ICT sector in the past four years, which is a truly staggering increase in the sector. The announcements made in recent days are a timely warning that we cannot take these jobs for granted.

Do we have a sufficient spread in the ICT sector? Are some segments of the sector, while others have overreached and are suffering a correction? If so, what is the scale of the correction? Are some entering into cyclical problems? For example, the chip sector is often subjected to significant volatility. I would like to get a deeper dive into what is happening in the different segments of the sector.

On the area of skills, I note there are a lot of vacancies and I hope the people who have, sadly, been impacted by redundancies can avail of them. To what extent does Technology Ireland use apprenticeships? The Government has made major efforts to expand the range of apprenticeships, for example, through the Springboard and human capital initiatives. There is a lot happening in government to respond to labour and skills shortages. Is ICT a big player in apprenticeships? Traditionally, the multinationals were not big players in the apprenticeship field. How big are apprenticeships? Can more momentum be created in the ICT sectors and other IDA Ireland-type sectors to become a significant channel? Earning as you learn suits quite a number of people.

My final question is for Technology Ireland. The witnesses spoke of fears concerning the direction of regulatory change and capacity. What are those concerns?