Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Independent Group for allowing me time to join Members from across the House in making a statement on the European Year of Skills, which starts today.

I wish everyone in the House, at home and in County Clare a belated happy Europe Day 2023. Being part of a European family has been an essential component in making our workforce highly skilled and sought-after, providing for farmers in rural Ireland who are the backbone of the State and affording opportunities to our children to study and work wherever in the European Union they see fit.

The motto of the European Union, United in Diversity, is as true today as it always has been. A new school building in Ennis was opened by the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, before Christmas, for Ennis Community College and Gaelcholáiste an Chláir. It boasts a student body whose members speak more than 70 languages. EU membership has helped us to strengthen not just our trade but our culture.

As a country, Ireland has placed a high value on education and skills development. We have a proud tradition of producing highly skilled workers who are in demand all over the world. However, we cannot rest on our laurels. As the Minister of State will know, we must continue to invest in skills development if we want to remain competitive in a rapidly changing global economy. The European Year of Skills provides an excellent opportunity to focus our attention on this important issue. It highlights the need for individuals, businesses and governments to work together to develop and improve skills across Europe. It also recognises the value of digital skills and literacy, which are becoming increasingly important in today's age of digital and green transition.

I commend the recent work of the Minister and his Department on widening the scope of university admissions, where we are about to embark on an exciting pilot scheme of degrees without the need for CAO points. For far too long, we have discounted too many young people from many communities because of something as arbitrary as CAO points. Assessing people and deciding their futures on the basis of their character and ability, rather than a few highly pressured hours in a June classroom, is something about which I am very hopeful. I am particularly hopeful about the fact that the earmarked courses, such as those relating to construction management and nursing, are more vocational in nature, where a lecture hall will never replace the on-the-job training element of these essential careers and when we are also crying out for new entrants into these sectors. I am so excited by the prospect of this pilot. In particular, I cannot wait to see the impact of it on young lives in my constituency of Clare. Ennis is now a university town. This opportunity for Clare people to study and get a degree in their county town is a game-changer. I can tell the Minister of State that the west is wide awake.

On the topic of Ennis, I was delighted to join with my constituency colleagues in welcoming a huge group of transition year students from Ennis to Leinster House today, who exemplify exactly what we are speaking about. The students from St. Flannan's College, Ennis Community College, Gaelcholáiste an Chláir, Rice College and Coláiste Muire engaged with Ennis 2040 and Clare County Council on their sustainability visions for Ennis and presented their findings in the audiovisual room earlier this afternoon. To be quite honest, I was blown away by some of their suggestions and solutions. Some might say the Civil Service could learn something from the way these fantastic young people think in a solutions-based way. They looked at getting rid of the need for students to be dropped at schools by instead having drop-off points in certain parts of Ennis to help with the traffic backlog we experience there on a daily basis.

I also met with representatives of Migrant Nurses Ireland on the Leinster House campus yesterday. They shared with me the challenges they have been facing. Qualified people, mainly from India, are coming to Ireland under a permit-for-skills designation to work as healthcare assistants, HCAs, in the private nursing home sector. A key issue for this group of workers is not being able to bring close family members to live in Ireland with them because of the income limits when applying for family reunification visas. Their incomes are less than the HSE rates of pay for HCAs, which would allow them to apply. These workers, as we know, carry out crucial, stressful and emotionally draining work and are doing so without the support of their spouses and children. The income limit they are required to meet goes up by €3,000 per dependent. During our discussion, we looked at me as an example. If I were in that situation, with my family size of six children, I would have to earn nearly €20,000 more, every year, than what they are currently paid. Another important issue for this group, despite being qualified, is they are also required to undergo Quality and Qualifications Ireland level 5 training at a personal cost of €1,500.

Let us celebrate the European Year of Skills and recommit to the importance of skills development. Let us work together to ensure that our people have the skills they need to succeed. Let us continue to build a brighter future for all of us.

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