Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister, Deputy Harris, for his opening remarks and all the Deputies who spoke here today. As the Minister mentioned in his opening statement, this is an inflection point for skills in Ireland. The only constant is change. We can no longer treat knowledge as a fixed asset acquired during a certain phase of life nor expect that three or four years of study at tertiary level will equip us for working lives that last 30 to 40 years. Skills have an ever shorter shelf life. The average half-life of a skill, that is the time a skill is innovated, flourishes and then becomes irrelevant, is shortening all the time. It is approximately five years for all skills and two years for digital skills. In simple terms, something learned at work in the past two years will start to lose its value in the next few years and in fewer than ten years, it will have no value at all. The World Economic Forum estimates that we need to assess and improve our skill levels in the workplace every two to three years to keep up. We must all engage with this and become infinite learners.

There are many opportunities for everyone of all ages to engage with learning. We are working to bring higher and further education and research and innovation sectors more closely together to help us to deliver a seamless system that serves people. Examples include the unified tertiary system policy launched last year. The national tertiary office, which is jointly managed by the Higher Education Authority, HEA, and SOLAS, has been established and work is under way to develop 14 joint higher and further education programmes. The further education and training, FET, sector has undergone transformational reform since 2013. Future FET: Transforming Learning is a strategy that focuses on how further education provides pathways for a diverse group of learners and prepares people for successful careers and a lifetime of learning and development. We have advanced the development of targeted upskilling and reskilling initiatives designed to meet specific skills needs such as Springboard+ and catalytic pilots such as the human capital initiative which have brought industry and business together with universities to collaborate on cutting-edge emerging technologies and to advance our capabilities, capacities and competitive edge.

The micro-credentials policy is leading the development of a national framework for quality-assured micro-credentials. This will expand capacity for lifelong learning by helping learners and enterprises to find flexible, high-quality micro-credential courses appropriate to their skills needs. The microcreds.ieplatform will be launched later this month. The pilot, Recognition of Prior Learning, works to bridge an individual's abilities with opportunities in different contexts in employment; education and training; and their personal lives. We have made significant progress in transforming the higher education landscape in recent years with the creation of the network of five new technological universities. Their range of part-time, blended and distance learning pathways are backed by state-of-the-art digital connectivity.

In the area of research and innovation, people and skills lie at the heart of our implementation of Impact 2030: Ireland's Research and Innovation Strategy that was launched last year. The skills element is an important part of the national review of the State's support of PhD researchers. Skills are only one of four dimensions identified in Harnessing Digital, which is our whole-of-government strategy for digital transformation. Efforts are under way on basic skills, digital skills for the labour market as a whole, and high-level digital skills. Important work is under way to promote the skills specific to the green transition. This includes promoting new and emerging careers and roles, such as wind turbine maintenance technicians, and supporting workers in a range of sectors to upskill and learn new approaches to their work. The impact climate change will have on society means the skills required for the green transition are found more and more frequently in every workplace. To address this, SOLAS has established a construction and green skills programme office and launched the roadmap, Green Skills for FET 2021-2030.

The scale and range of work under way across the Government is breathtaking. It is all-encompassing in recognition by the Government that Ireland's skills ecosystem is a strategic national asset. Yesterday marked the conclusion of the Department's 15-month review and the launch both of the report OECD Skills Strategy Ireland and of the 2023 European Year of Skills. The year represents a call to action by President von der Leyen that governments and individuals should step up investment in themselves. This means recognising and realising a new chapter for a success story that is Irish education, a chapter of continuous learning via the Government working with education and training partners and providers and especially with business leaders. Let us collectively rise to the challenge of arming ourselves with the skills we need for the future. Let us put skills at the centre of our lives as a driver of our enterprise success and as a core tenet of our societal well-being. With the OECD review, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science will be actively looking at strength and improvement areas, including looking at whether we have the correct legislative framework to underpin a truly 21st century learning and skills system.

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