Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House for the first time in 2004. He always gives great recognition to the House and I thank him for taking this debate given his busy schedule. I will not detain him.

I am delighted the Seanad has an opportunity to debate this report, which was issued last October. Many reports are issued but not debated in either House of the Oireachtas. However, the Seanad has a role in highlighting the issues they address. I agree with Senator Moylan that the expert group did worthwhile work on future skills needs. This report should be implemented to the letter because it is important. Senator Moylan referred to the skills of tradesmen in the building industry. The late Jim Kemmy from Limerick was a stonemason, as was my father, and they shared the saying, "With a trowel, you can travel the world". Based on my observations of building taking place in my locality in County Roscommon, young tradesmen, who have served their apprenticeships, are producing fine quality buildings and they are capable of constructing buildings to the highest standard in terms of architectural design and engineering.

The fourth report of the expert group on future skills needs was brought to our attention in October 2003 and it offers us an invaluable insight into what policy should be followed by the Government to ensure the inadequate supply of skills across the workforce, which will eventually hamper Ireland's future economic prosperity, will be remedied. The latest report from the expert group reviews the future skills requirements in seven key sectors of the economy. It concentrates on areas of high added value such as ICT, biotechnology, financial services and food processing and also investigates the importance of generic skills for organisational success.

Sectors as diverse as biotechnology, engineering and logistics are primed for significant growth from 2005. The warning issued by Forfás must be taken on board. The body states if current trends in the supply of skills by the wider education and training sector are left unchecked, there will be a significant shortfall in skills required to fuel this growth. Since much of Ireland's economic progress over the past two decades can be attributed to the ready availability of people with the right skills, the deficit in this area, which has emerged since the last expert group report, must be addressed.

As the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment illustrated, the essence of the knowledge economy, towards which Ireland is moving, will be the creation and commercial exploitation of intellectual property. This will require the highest skills across a full range of disciplines from science and technology to business and law.

The key issues and findings in the report include the significant changes that have taken place in the economy since the publication of the third report of the expert group in 2001. Specifically, the group warned of ubiquitous problems in recruitment and staff retention. These have largely disappeared and the labour market has loosened appreciably. The report also investigates the importance of soft skills such as teamwork and problem solving skills in the development of a healthy, knowledge based economy.

The group's recommendations for the overall labour market focus primarily on increasing the proportion of highly skilled workers in the labour force by upskilling, reskilling and improving the quality of vocational systems. Forfás has found that the ICT downturn has caused an excess of supply over demand for graduates but that an economic recovery would once again lead to a shortage of graduates. However, one projection suggests if students continue to shun computer courses, as they did last year, significant skills shortages may emerge. A second projection suggests if confidence in computing and electronic engineering courses recovers, 80% of previous peak levels could be reached by 2007.

The supply of science graduates must be increased significantly if Ireland is to compete for investment from the rapid growth in the biotechnology sector, which is anticipated worldwide over the next seven years. Heed, therefore, must be taken of the warning that in the current climate there is a danger that Ireland could adopt an approach of reacting to short-term demand in the provision of skills. Such a development would be short sighted and, ultimately, detrimental to Ireland's future prospects. The medium and long-term skills needed must be identified and it must be ensured they are available to industry in the future.

It has been argued that Ireland's relatively low Internet and broadband penetration is a factor in the lack of interest in high-tech jobs among students. However, I hope this damaged interest will soon be revived with the provision of non-commercial broadband networks. The skills gap cannot be allowed to increase further in sectors that rely heavily on science and technology skills. There has been significant interest in broadband since the Government took office. The Minister of State has made significant investment and commitments in this area, in which Ireland was lagging behind. That was unusual because broadband is needed to develop in rural areas. It is absolutely vital in the context of the decentralisation programme that broadband should be available in every town and village over the next three or four years.

I welcome the two pronged approach of the recommendations in the expert group report. The recommendations aim to ensure Ireland's ability to benefit from the anticipated global economic upturn is not compromised by a shortfall in the quality or quantity of skills available in the economy. The dual approach is, first, to increase the proportion of highly skilled workers in the labour force and, second, to address the need to track the evolving skills needs of the enterprise sector.

Our job, as policymakers, is to provide greater investment in the public education system and to address the manifest inequalities in access to education at all levels, as skills will be Ireland's most sustainable competitive advantage in the years ahead. We are benefiting from the investment made in education by the former Minister for Education, Donogh O'Malley, in the 1960s and the Celtic tiger can be attributed to the investment made by him and Seán Lemass. The provision of free secondary education was one of the greatest decisions made by a Government and I am proud a Fianna Fáil Government recognised the needs of the future. Ireland missed out on economic development because it was under British rule for so long but, when we got an opportunity, we grasped the nettle and that is why Ireland has the best educated workforce in the world. Long may that continue but investment in education is absolutely essential. We need to increase the participation rate and levels of attainment in the education sector and review curricula regularly.

I congratulate the expert group, which drew up such an impressive, informative and necessary report and I am optimistic the Minister of State, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Minister for Education and Science will ensure the report is implemented. Many significant points were made by colleagues. Senator Moylan referred to the shortage of planning experts and we must rely on attracting them from around the world. Our own experts are needed in this field.