Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To respond to Deputy Durkan, the short answer is "Yes". I want to work with the tourism and hospitality sector. We have already shown that when we worked with the Irish Hotels Federation to put in place a range of upskilling and reskilling programmes. Its members wanted to use the difficult times of the Covid restrictions when they were not able to open their premises to provide their staff with the skills they might not have had the opportunity or time to develop during a busy season. We remain willing and able to do more in that space and have a budget to do so.

I thank Deputy Dillon for raising the issue of the skills needs of the regions. I am very excited about the opening of the Atlantic Technological University in April. I thank the Deputy for his support and work on this matter. Castlebar will become a university town and Mayo will become a university county. I want to send a clear message in respect of the Atlantic Technological University. Its role will be to work in the context of the regional jobs plans and enterprise strategies and with the regional skills fora to identify where the jobs for the future and for now are in Mayo and the north-west region and to provide the courses and pathways necessary to develop a pipeline of talent. I look forward to visiting Mayo with the Deputy shortly to look at that.

I thank Deputy Griffin very much for his invitation to visit Killarney. I would be delighted to come to Killarney with him to meet businesses, particularly in the tourism and hospitality sector, and to see how we can do more with regard to further education and training opportunities, particularly for those sectors that are busy and that we want to be busier, and to make sure that education and training is provided in an agile and flexible way that works for them. I am delighted that we have provided an employer incentive scheme worth €2,000 to people who take on new apprentices. I hope that will be of use and I look forward to being in Killarney soon.

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