Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The focus of the European Year of Skills is lifelong learning. There is an old adage that education will set you free. That applies depending on where someone lives in the world today. It may ring true but what is indisputable is that onward education and learning deliver opportunities in terms of employment potential and the remuneration one can command.

The Department's report has highlighted some key observations. Ireland's participation in third level education is above the OECD average. Our participation in lifelong learning which is the basis of developing new skills and abilities, although above the EU average, does not rank us with the top-performing countries with which we are competing. It is a worthy goal that we should try to change that. Many Irish employers expressed concerns about the current skills gaps they see in various business sectors. This will get worse as the specialist areas of work advance and change. That is something we need to remediate.

A job for life does not exist anymore. We are all called on to improve our skill set and add to our learned capabilities if we are to remain truly productive and employable throughout our lives. This is largely related to the area of personal development, something that should be on the school curriculum. We need to start implementing personal development courses in national and secondary schools as part of the education syllabus.

Ultimately the report highlights the need for national policy to direct investment to creating opportunity for people to advance their training and learning regardless of whether they are in work or out of it. It is also a question of matching the right talents and abilities with skill sets that can deliver the best professional development of individuals. This will require a body of work in an economy like ours which is close to full employment. Access to further and onward skills and education is not always equally available, nor is it always promoted by employers who may want to see their employees develop their best work attributes but often do not wish to incentivise them to launch into a different career area resulting in such employers having to go back to recruitment agencies again.

EU social targets call for at least 60% of adults in training every year and at least 70% of these being in employment. These targets are frankly nuts. The current labour market participation rate in Ireland hovers around the 60% to 65% range. The latest obvious data from 2017 suggest just 8% of Irish adults participated in formal educational activity. In my own region, the south east, participation rates in the labour market and in formal education are lower than the national average.

If the Government is serious about achieving EU 2030 social goals, why do we have the continuing delay to invest in the South East Technological University, the only university in the south east? Why is there a delay in delivering to Waterford and Carlow campuses the academic buildings promised under a public private partnership, PPP, contract arrangement? As I have said in this House before, the Government had no problem giving the green light to PPP investments in universities in Dublin and Cork to the tune of €330 million in 2020. Why was the south-east region bypassed for such investment at that time? Did we think the skills shortage was not an issue in the region then?

The Minister and his Department have made a slow bicycle race of the purchase of part of the old Waterford Crystal site, a site identified by the Taoiseach in this House in 2020, a site that has been on the open market since 2017 and yet ongoing due diligence proceedings are slated to take up to the year end to complete. Does this mean that some in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science require access to further skills development to achieve greater efficiency and speed in the delivery of their work?

We all know the world of work is changing and the challenges of an ever accelerating digital economy are coming into view very quickly and sharply. Artificial intelligence and robotics present some of the greatest challenges and possibly some of the greatest opportunities to countries that can successfully position their education to integrate, understand and best utilise this technology to create improvements in our social and economic environments. How should this best be done considering such skill sets will likely require all of the capability of university-based research and development in the State?

As the Minister of State will be aware, in the south east the three scientific gateways of the South Eastern Applied Materials Research Centre, SEAM, the Pharmaceutical and Molecular Biotechnology research centre, PMBrc, and the Walton Institute based in Waterford are some of the most advanced and successful of the 15 gateways in the country. They are individually and collectively very well placed to contribute to development and there is an opportunity for people from industry to engage in further education and be funded from the South East Technological University budget along with whatever research grant moneys they can win. They can be a considerable educational driver of the south-eastern region and the national economy. Where is the commitment from the Minister of State or his Department to deliver parity of esteem in third level educational spend to the new South East Technological University? I have not seen it written anywhere. I have not seen any Minister come into this House and make that statement on the Dáil record. Where within the Department's communications is exceptionalism cited for the region and the understanding that this region does not have the National University of Ireland to back up its third level educational output?

The comments by the Minister on his desire to see transformational learning opportunity delivered will make no sense in the south-east region without an equitable share from university funding disbursement and an acknowledgement by the Minister and the Government that the South East Technological University will have parity of investment with the universities and third level activity in other regions.

There are many challenges facing our national economy in the coming years. Ireland's ability to withstand the digital and demographic changes that will affect our society will be a function of our ability to continue to compete for international markets and international investment. The climate change challenge is also immense, yet Ireland can be a technology leader in this area if the policy steps that are required are implemented. That will also require an innovative and technically adept workforce. This is what we should now concentrate on delivering. None of this will happen without adequate investment in skills and education and in my region it will not happen without parity of investment in third level academia.

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