Ann Ormonde (Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Hanafin for giving me the opportunity to speak. We could all speak at length about this report, but as I have only six minutes, I am delighted to compliment the Tánaiste and the Minister for Education and Science on initiating this report. I thank the expert group under the chairmanship of Danny O'Hare for producing such a fine report. The whole exercise is to examine the areas in which we may be skills-oriented over the next ten years. The ESRI report has clearly indicated a very positive picture from 2004 on and, in a rapidly evolving economy, it is necessary that we ensure our future economic prosperity is guaranteed by having the proper skills.

I have looked through the report which examines where the shortages were and how we could best move forward. The obvious shortages are in the area of communications technology and computing. I will very quickly run through this. The report states that there will be a major drive in the Irish economy in these areas and that we must therefore re-examine courses and consider sales management and training initiatives. Likewise, it examines the gap regarding biotechnology and engineering. What sticks out is that there is a lack of motivation and encouragement in the science area coming from second level education.

In the area of construction, we seem not to have proper training. In particular, there is a lack in the area of apprenticeships, which must be examined. We must ensure proper sponsorship of plasterers, decorators, bricklayers and so on. I know that area because I worked for many years with young people trying to find apprenticeships, and the position has not changed very much in the past ten years. We must upgrade our skills to ensure upskilling is ongoing because of the changes that will take place in our environment, including waste disposal and management and safety. That must all be taken into consideration in any training course in future.

I compliment the pioneers of the food-processing sector in the City of Dublin VEC. This became a new idea back in the 1970s and 1980s. They literally engineered the whole food-processing industry, and it has mushroomed from there, crossing into the institutes of technology throughout the length and breadth of Ireland. I compliment the education system on the post-leaving certificate courses. However, we must examine the types of course available and their relevance. This is a significant issue, as many of those courses are very ad hoc. The level of research into the development of various modules within those courses is low. Once again, we must examine the kinds of people we wish to attract. Food processing is very much a people industry, and we have not gone into that at much length. We must examine certificate, diploma and degree courses. We must examine the third level programmes that are not sufficiently broad-based regarding food management and marketing, which are both part of the food-processing industry.

The subject of the blue collar worker is barely referred to in the report.