Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Ireland in recent days and thank them for continuing to build on the friendship between our two countries. The warmth and generosity of spirit being shown to them by the Irish people is appropriate and underlines the close relationship our two islands share. I am sure they are aware of the economic relationships between the UK and Ireland and the challenging conditions that a hard Brexit might create between our two states. It is in our joint interests that Ireland, the United Kingdom and our EU partners should continue working closely together to achieve a managed Brexit that minimises the impact on our trading relationships and does nothing to diminish the respect that has been fostered between our two nations, particularly over recent decades.

Notwithstanding the importance of our shared ambition, recent media reports indicate a hardening stance by the new UK Government on aspects of its negotiating position with regard to the withdrawal agreement passed by the House of Commons. This House will wish every success for our future trade teams, as well as those of the UK and EU, in arriving at a satisfactory agreement that meets the needs of all concerned. The substance of this new future trading agreement will be a matter of negotiation. It will highlight longer-term political, economic and social challenges for Ireland in our national strategic planning, which at its heart must deliver equity and fairness and secure the future of our vibrant country and its people.

Ireland faces increasing challenges to remain at the forefront of European decision making. Politicians negotiating on our behalf must continue to ensure our open economy remains a European centre, one which embraces advancing world-leading technological change. For Ireland to retain its place as a First World country providing for all her people, we can no longer defer consideration of the social, cultural, environmental and economic shifts we will need to make to future-proof our national competitiveness, thus enabling the advancement of the social prosperity of our people. The technological economy is enlarging with great speed, transforming not only the way we live but also how we work. Many of our standard work practices and work areas are being challenged. Many traditional jobs will disappear in the coming years to be replaced by new opportunities that will require new learning. Industries that are slow to adapt to the use of technology in their manufacturing, innovation and service delivery will be increasingly exposed to international price-led competition. This information age, which is evident all around us, will become completely transformative, increasingly displacing traditional jobs.

The challenging effects of globalisation can be seen in our educational output and the difficulty with retaining and employing those who graduate annually from our third level institutions with significant engineering, technical, scientific and medical competencies. India is an example of a peer country which places great focus on literacy and education and where millions graduate annually as doctors, engineers, scientists, researchers. Many will work in industries that we in Ireland want and need to attract. Unless we continuously resource dynamic and technologically-driven ambition, our economy will fail to grow adequately and will not compete sufficiently to sustain the level of national income necessary to support the needs of our population and meet demographic challenges such as providing adequate reserves for pension needs and elderly care.

In understanding such challenges, we must set policy objectives, particularly in education and future learning that prepare coming generations for success in the world into which they are entering. One such objective is to have a regional, functioning third level education system which delivers courses and graduates to meet the requirements of our advanced employers. It must exhibit regional balance, be based on critical mass and have an ability to scale. Significant opportunity exists through science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, or STEAM. Along with traditional areas such as history, geography, economics and languages, students can expect to immerse themselves in areas such as big data, artificial intelligence, complex programming, machine-based learning systems, robotic interfaces, etc. They must also become adept in the creation of thought leadership to deliver innovation, problem solve and deliver accelerated learning. Achieving such high ambition will require a step-change in the educational attitude and attainment of our students and third level institutions. The Government must begin to provide substance to such policies.

My constituency of Waterford and the surrounding south-east region has suffered a significant delay in the delivery of a city region university. Many of our school leavers must go outside the region to access third level courses and many fail to return after graduation, creating a brain drain and forgoing an economic benefit. The lack of investment in Waterford Institute of Technology, which has more than 6,000 undergraduates, over many years has contributed to the regional brain drain and forced a wealth transfer from parents in the south east who struggle to fund student education, including paying for expensive accommodation in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and overseas. Capital investment in the Cork Road campus at WIT was last delivered in 2010, despite significant investment in third level facilities in other regions. An application to build a new engineering building on site at WIT remains unactivated. The project, which awaits build tender approval, would only marginally improve the college's capacity and ability to increase student uptake. Without significant investment in capital structures at WIT and provision of further STEM course opportunity, the idea of regional regeneration through education remains for Waterford and the south east a promise and policy unfulfilled. This is more than unfortunate for the city and region given the vibrant tech and pharma clusters that have been developed over the past 20 years. That these industries are crying out for suitably qualified graduates who should be available within the educational ecosystem of the south east but are not there in number, is a failure that no future Government can allow to continue in the south east or any other region.

As part of regional rebalancing and regeneration, there must be focus on our indigenous small and medium sized enterprises, SMEs. These are our largely Irish owned businesses that employ between ten and 250 people. They are overlooked for enterprise supports as they do not qualify in both micro-enterprise and local enterprise board categories. They cannot access Enterprise Ireland funding if they do not have export-led activity. There is an opportunity for third and fourth level institutions to engage with these companies and explore how they might innovate and adapt to counter the possible downturns of a negative Brexit environment. These SMEs represent one of the largest employment groupings in Ireland. They comprise 54% of all those working in the State, yet bizarrely they are not represented in social partnership discussions. This is a disparity that a future Government must address.

The direction of negotiations regarding Brexit remains a matter of discussion. I welcome the Taoiseach's recently stated position that no diminution of the Common Agricultural Policy, which would significantly affect many in Irish agricultural production, will be accepted. A hard Brexit has always presented a clear and present danger to Ireland. Alongside this, a significant consequence will be the loss of a voting partner for Ireland in future Commission decisions. It is imperative that this House generate momentum for the formation of a new Government, not only to deal with Brexit but also the significant other challenges we face today. We must also immediately begin planning the equitable rebalancing of Ireland.

At its core, policy must secure the future of our indigenous and multinational industries by providing them with opportunities to access the third and fourth level skills and educational supports they require. We must also test and test again policies on housing, healthcare, education, the environment and economic planning to ensure they can deliver a socially just future with opportunity for all.

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