Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome. I know his enthusiasm and his heart are in this programme. I have been involved since the beginning, and I have been chairman of the selection committee for the past five years. One sees such satisfaction in people who have changed course, probably having had a degree in architecture, quantity surveying or something like that, who suddenly found there was no job for them. They might have taken up an ICT course or even a cookery course or something like that. It is such a success to see their sense of achievement. The selection committee I have chaired for the last five years is made up of experts in various areas, who are able to select the different courses we should undertake.

Many employers just cannot find sufficient skills at that high level. I have a word of caution for Senator Ó Domhnaill: let us not make the Springboard course too wide. If we need to get apprentices in other areas, let us do something else. The fact that €100 million has been spent in the last few years and another €27 million is being spent this year is a reminder of how valuable the programme is. This year it will provide free part-time courses for up to 9,000 job-seekers. The results are clear. Over 74% of all Springboard participants from 2011 to 2014 are no longer on the live register. That is a great achievement. As the motion mentions, the initiative must get a great deal of credit for drastically reducing our unemployment rate. It is very important. We are all aware of the number of foreign investors who come to Ireland, usually in ICT, and say they cannot get locals to work in that area, while they also need other skills. Therefore, the selection of courses that enable those skills to be acquired is important.

I was shown around the Google headquarters last year. The chief executive showed me one particular man. They did not seem to have any managers in Google - they walk around on their own - and there is plenty of food, soft drinks, and everything else. He had his earphones on and a microphone. The chief executive told me the man was from eastern Stuttgart, because Google knows that if it wants to sell something to someone in eastern Stuttgart, it does not want to go in with a Munich accent. It is a bit like someone trying to sell something in Dundalk with a Kerry accent. I am sure that is the wrong way around, but whatever it is - maybe in Donegal with a Kerry accent.