Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 164: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps being taken to develop skills and training to meet the needs of the IT sector. [21891/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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There are a wide range of full and part time undergraduate and post graduate programmes available within the higher education system for students who wish to pursue careers in the IT indusrty and for professionls who wish to develop their skills. The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs plays a key role in advising on the future skills needs of enterprise. Its reports are disseminated to education and training providers and provide a valuable input to the development of curricula in education and training provision. EGFSN research and industry engagement also informed the development and selection of part-time higher education programmes for unemployed people being funded through Springboard. Under this initiative 2,000 places are available for unemployed people on programmes from certificate to masters degree level in areas relevant to the skills needs of the IT. My Department and the HEA, in collaboration with the Secretariat to the EGFSN are also working closely with ICT industry to develop further responses to specific high level skills needs that have been identified by the sector. A wide range of education and training programmes relevant to the IT sector are also provided by Further Education instituions and through FAS and Skillnets.