Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

11 o’clock

The Department of Education and Skills, the national skills council, the regional skills fora and the expert group on future skills needs are all looking at the issue. That is the reason we have so many FDI companies operating in various sectors in this country. Deputy Kelleher is correct in that it is important that we update the skills.

The drop in competitiveness that was evident from last night's report is disappointing. We have gone from sixth place to 12th in the world economy but we are still in the top 15, which is important. We are ahead of China. The top five seem to remain in place all the time. The USA had dropped but it is back up again. Hong Kong had taken over. The first three are now the USA, Hong Kong and Singapore. We still remain in the top three within the European Union and it is important to acknowledge that.

That is just one issue. We should bear in mind the successes we have had in our ranking in other areas. The UK is currently 20th while we are 12th. We are ranked first in the world by the IMD World Competitiveness Center for productivity in industry and the flexibility and adaptability of our workforce. We also perform very well in attracting and retaining talent. That is extremely important for us. The focus is very much on upskilling and reskilling people where jobs are changing. The future of work of changing.

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