Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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That was excellent news about the Waterford Crystal site. We are all measuring acquiring the site against the capital investment that is needed for the existing site. I mentioned the engineering building. It is slightly unfair to ask a prospective question at a PAC meeting when we are supposed to be retrospective. However, I wanted to take the opportunity to ask.

I will return to the National Training Fund, NTF, particularly around the issue of lifelong learning. The Department will know that we do an awful lot in education very well. We are at the top of the charts in quite a few aspects of our educational provision. However, for lifelong learning, we are decidedly mid-table. Skillnet and Solas are doing a good job in this space but I do not want it to be the case that somebody has to become redundant before we move to the kind of upskilling or transition we need. Our guests have talked about the digital and green transitions. Those are twin pressures. I really want upskilling to happen while people are in place and in work. I have spoken previously about the frustration of employers around retaining employees. They want to invest in their employees when they have the chance but there is a block in the road in terms of the NTF. Ms Hughes-Elders pointed to the fact that we might need legislative change to unlock the NTF. We have spoken a lot about how much is in the fund and is left sitting there. For future casting, how are we going to resolve the issue? Do we need legislation? Is the Department looking at the issue?