Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Oli, who came from the United States to do some work experience with me, and her parents to the Public Gallery. I welcome her back to Ireland. It is great to have them here.

It is brilliant that so many young adults in Ireland have a degree. The statistics show we are significantly above the OECD average. Many Irish people, however, are falling behind because they do not have the right skills to thrive in their current employment and are unprepared for the changes in the world of work. We have seen massive changes in this regard and the rate of transformation will only increase. We must be ready. Many of us took the opportunity to learn a new skill during the pandemic. Now we must focus on this issue and concentrate on upskilling for Ireland to compete globally.

The European Year of Skills represents a call to action for Ireland to work together to address the global challenge, represented by the scale and pace of change in the world of work. Learning as we know it has changed to meet these challenges. We are all aware there are significant challenges ahead, with labour shortages, a slowdown in productivity growth and a need to successfully navigate the skills implications of the green and digital transformation of our economies, all the while dealing with the impact of population ageing. This last point has been brought to my attention several times. It is great that we are living so long but it also brings challenges. We also need to address that.

We are great at pursuing further education and we in Carlow have great further education institutions. The Minister of State will be aware that, as a Carlow woman, I am very proud of Carlow, which is now a university town and county. Carlow College, St. Patrick's, is a great college, which is seeking to fully integrate with the technological university. It has all of the capabilities and it has excellent students. The Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, is working on that issue with the Minister. I will return to that matter shortly.

The numbers of adults in Ireland pursuing lifelong learning to facilitate essential reskilling and upskilling, while above the EU average, falls far behind the top EU performers. This was also brought to my attention recently. I often hear from businesses in Carlow how concerned they are about labour skills gaps. We need significant investment in skills, including supports for management capabilities and the adoption of high performance work practices.

EuroSkills is an EU-wide initiative to ensure that people get the right skills for quality jobs and to help companies, especially small and medium enterprises, address skills shortages. This is an essential ingredient to ensure that SMEs across Ireland can increase productivity, innovation and competitiveness.

We have always been an island of learning and a country of creativity, skills that are crucial for the future world, both inside and outside of work. It is crucial for Ireland to participate in this. I have been told several times that our young people are global role models. As has been said, many good, young adults and teenagers are emigrating to other countries. We cannot allow this. We must ensure we are prepared and that we look after them, be they nurses or gardaí or in any other sector. I cannot mention one because I will forget others. We must ensure we have services, houses and proper pay. Ireland is a great place and a lovely place to live. It is known globally as having the best students in the world. We need to develop that. Historically, we have had a highly educated population. I see droves of students coming to Carlow to gain the enormous benefit of our further learning institutions. Our people are our gold. We must invest in that resource with money, momentum and ambition. We need more ambition. We should issue a call to action for everyone to step up and engage in this new era of learning.

I also highlight this issue as a mother. Some people want to go to college and others want to do apprenticeships. We must make sure we have everything in place. Our institute in Carlow is now a technological university and we have much to offer. The integration of St. Patrick's College Carlow into the technological university will allow us to offer apprenticeships and upskilling. We can do everything there. I have been in constant contact with the Minister of State and the Minister about this issue and I will continue to contact them. I ask the Minister of State to get back to me on it. In fairness, a lot of work has been done on the full integration of Carlow College into the technological university, but there is a lot more to do.

We have to make sure we look after our future. Adults and teenagers are our future. If people want to upskill and go back to school or college, we must make sure they can do so. The challenges are there and we need to work with everyone to give them the opportunity to access education when they need it. I look forward to seeing the report on the next steps, including the need to consider new legislation on skills. Perhaps the Minister of State will respond on that.

We must also look at the supports for businesses in this challenging environment. I can only speak about businesses in Carlow and Kilkenny, which have faced huge challenges. It is important we work with businesses. With everybody working together, we will find a solution. I am sure this will be very productive. There is a lot of good in this and I believe we can all learn from it.

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