Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 23 November 2023
Public Accounts Committee
Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 45 - Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
Financial Statements 2022: National Training Fund
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 19: National Training Fund
9:30 am
Mr. William Beausang:
The Deputy asks a good question. The OECD review I mentioned earlier highlights an issue that we, as a Department, are anxious to get across. We are at total employment of approximately 2.4 million or 2.5 million people. The way the world is changing with digitisation, artificial intelligence, AI, and decarbonisation means that everyone needs reskilling and upskilling. The Deputy talked about our mixed performance. We are mid-table in Europe, well behind countries such as Sweden and Finland.