Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 185: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills if her attention has been drawn to the lack of skilled workers available for many manufacturing industries such as food and engineering; the way she proposes to deal with this in view of the fact that the current structures have failed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23664/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The National Skills Bulletin identifies skill shortages in the economy each year. Given the sharp rise in unemployment, there is an excess supply of labour in Ireland at present. As a result, no significant labour shortages have been identified in 2010. However, the incidence of skills shortages is very low. These relate to a small number of posts and are confined to specialists within an occupation (e.g. electrical engineers with an expertise in high voltage grids), senior positions (e.g. senior software developer), niche areas (e.g. telesales with Nordic languages) and a specific skill mix (e.g. ICT and business).

In terms of the skills requirements that will be needed in the future, the Department's policies will continue to be guided, inter alia, by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs which reports regularly to the Minister for Education and Skills.