Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 104 and 492 together.

One of the reasons my Department was established was to recognise that there needs to be an interface between the education system at higher education level and industry regional skills fora. Education has a massive value above and beyond economic, of that there is no doubt, but we also need to have a robust higher education system to deliver the jobs of the future and to ensure that Ireland's competitiveness is protected. I genuinely believe the battle in the future is not going to be to locate the factory to the country, rather it is going to be to keep the talent in the country and locate the talent in the country and to ensure people want to come here, study here, learn here and start their career here.

I have had some very good meetings with the regional skills fora in regard to this issue. We need a reboot now with my new Department in terms of how we interface right across the country with businesses, not just multinationals, although that is important, but also with small and medium enterprises. I am on record that we have taken a too narrow and culturally snobby view to higher education, and I believe that. I was encouraged that the Provost of Trinity wrote an op-ed in The Irish Timeslast week in a similar space. There are many routes for people to get to the career they want. We have just discussed apprenticeships. It is one route. I have met people involved in apprenticeship programmes, where they are getting the education and the practical industry experience that they need.

I hear a lot of talk about climate change and climate action. I share that concern. We want to retrofit hundreds of thousands of homes. We cannot do that unless we have the skills we need to do it. This coming year we are going to try to train 2,000 people in retrofitting skills. There are skills shortages in a variety of areas in this country. Following the Covid pandemic, it is important that we do not just stick on training places for the sake of saying we are doing something, but that we match training places such that people have a decent opportunity of getting a high quality job at the end of it. We need to map out what those jobs in the future look like.

The National Skills Council is due to give me a report soon on the future skills needs of the Irish economy. I will be happy to share that with the Deputy.

See this speech in context