Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I am happy to provide information on that. The concept of the centre arose during the consideration given to the level of world-class skills, education and training required to sustain and further develop the IFSC in this country. The expert group on future skill needs was requested by the clearing house group to examine the needs of the entire international financial services industry and to put in place a strategy to ensure a continued and sustainable supply of skills to meet the needs of employers. It is clear from the study of research undertaken that no one academic institution alone had the capacity to cater for the highly desired skills set identified as being in short supply.

A sub-group on skills was then mandated by the clearing house group to bring forward immediate action to address the findings and the sub-group developed the proposal, referred to as the Fenero initiative, including the key elements of what now forms the Finuas networks programme. The model involved co-investment by the State and firms that have proven highly successful in the Skillnets training network programme since 1999 in a range of sectors and regions. Skillnets Limited was appointed by the then Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment as managing agents for Finuas in late November 2008. That project was launched in early 2009 in order to provide support for training in the IFSC sector. It operates on a matching funding model across four industry-led networks, with total public spending of €2 million over the two-year period 2009 to 2010 generally covering 25% to 40% the cost of training.

Investment in on-the-job training is a central plank of the development of a smart economy. A skilled workforce underpins both maintaining current employment levels in the IFSC and attracting inward investment in new employment. The Finuas project operates with the support of the majority funding of the industry and also enables greater training provision by firms, benefiting from the long-term employability of workers and Ireland's competitive position. The problem runs on very low overheads and has provided high-quality training and excellent value for money.

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