Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As Deputy Catherine Murphy stated, there is a problem here. These are creative persons and there are estimates in other countries that one such person has a knock-on impact of approximately five jobs in the rest of the economy because such persons transform the ability of key sectors to perform to a much higher level. We cannot afford to be without these skills.

While we plan to double the graduate number, that will take a four-year cycle to achieve. In the meantime, we are putting through approximately 700 persons on the Springboard conversion courses in the ICT area and those courses are free to those participating.

There are also approximately 1,200 persons coming in on work permits with these sort of particular skills. Such permits will always be needed. There will always be a need to provide balance with persons of international experience because we need to form strong clusters in these sectors so that they become magnets for skill and enterprise development. It is an area where the balance in being open to bringing in outside skills and developing our internal ones is key. I assure the Deputy that the Minister, Deputy Quinn, is alert to the opportunities in this sector.

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