Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 84: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the steps he is taking to develop the proposals for an all-Ireland approach to the development of the labour market with his colleagues in the Northern Executive. [35944/11]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

My colleague Ruairí Quinn T.D., Minister for Education and Skills, has overall responsibility for the development of further education and skills training in the context of the current difficult and changing labour market and is assisted by the Minister of State with responsibility for Training and Skills, Ciarán Cannon T.D.

The Northern Ireland Department of Employment and Learning (DEL) has responsibility for further/vocational and higher education matters as well as employment matters and skills training in Northern Ireland. While the Department of Education and Skills does not formally engage with DEL within the structures of the NSMC, both Departments liaise on North South education and training cooperation issues as required. There is also good co-operation between third level institutions in both jurisdictions in relation to third level courses and research programmes.

My colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, Mr Ruairí Quinn T.D., met with Minister Stephen Farry, M.L.A., the Northern Ireland Minister for Employment and Learning, on Wednesday, 28 September 2011. I am informed that, at their bilateral meeting, the Ministers discussed issues of mutual interest including Further and Higher Education and the drive to raise skills levels, as well as looking ahead to possible further areas of collaboration. The Ministers acknowledged that the need to raise the skills levels of the workforce is a challenge throughout the island. Both Departments have previously engaged constructively on this issue, with the production of an All-Island Skills Study and the also the Management Matters report which highlighted the need for improvements in management and leadership skills in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

I understand from Forfás, the policy advisory board for enterprise, trade, science, technology and innovation, that in recent years there have been many examples of both Forfás and the Northern Ireland Department for Employment and Learning working together to share information and to understand more fully the labour market on both parts of the island of Ireland. These include joint meetings of the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) and the (then) Northern Ireland Skills Expert Group, the production of the All Island Skills Report, the All Island Skills Conference in 2008 and the steering of research into management skills North and South.

A Comprehensive Study on the All-Island economy (2006) commissioned by the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, emphasised the benefits of working together in a co-ordinated way to ensure that the necessary skills are in place to encourage sustained growth. The two skills expert groups established North and South - the NI Skills Expert Group and the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs - agreed to work together on an All-Island Skills Study to provide the evidence for delivering the required workforce skills across the island. This Study was completed in October 2008 and provides an evidence base for future partnership and effective working between the two skills expert groups by providing a comprehensive picture of skills demand on an All-Island basis.

The Study was launched at a conference held in Derry on 9th October 2008. The conference provided an opportunity to share good practice and maximise opportunities for future North/South cooperation. It discussed future challenges and opportunities facing economies North/South and potential responses to help sustain future economic and social development. Since then a number of meetings have been held between the chairperson of the EGFSN and the head of the Education, Skills and Labour Market Policy, Forfás and the Northern Ireland Adviser on Employment and Skills. The purpose of the meetings is to provide an exchange of information on the role, functions and work of the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs and on the work of the Northern Ireland Adviser on Employment and Skills and the Employment & Skills Advisory Group and on respective research work being undertaken — such as on the demand for high-level ICT skills and the skills demand needs of the green economy.

I am informed that FÁS has continued its tradition of co-operating with the training authorities in Northern Ireland in the running of the Wider Horizons Programme (WHP). The programme aims to enhance employment opportunities by providing vocational training, work experience and personal development training both at home and overseas to disadvantaged people aged between 18 and 28 years. The Wider Horizons Programme is delivered on behalf of The International Fund for Ireland (IFI) by its joint managing agents, the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) in Northern Ireland and FÁS in the Republic of Ireland. IFI funds the programme costs with FÁS and DEL contributing to the training allowance and travel and accommodation costs of participants. Last year approximately 570 young people participated in the Wider Horizons Programme across 29 projects.

In the sphere of social protection and the coordination of social security arrangements, the Department of Social Protection is represented at meetings of the inter-departmental North-South co-ordinators group, chaired by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The Secretariat of the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC) recently finalised a paper on Obstacles to Cross Border Mobility and which, amongst a range of issues, highlights difficulties people who are regarded as frontier workers have in the social welfare and tax areas.

A Cross-Border Operational Forum has been established comprising of selected investigators from the Irish Department of Social Protection the Great Britain Department for Work and Pensions and the Northern Ireland Social Security Agency of the Department for Social Development. The Forum's remit is to liaise at an operational level, under the aegis of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of Ireland concerning Co-operation and Mutual Assistance in the Administration of Social Security Programmes (the MOU), in matters of mutual interest in the areas of fraud in their respective social security systems.

With regard to co-operation on issues relating to employment law, employment rights and industrial relations, officials of my Department maintain continuing liaison with their counterparts in the Northern Ireland Department of Employment and Learning. These contacts are also complemented by continuing close working relationships between the Labour Relations Commission and its Northern Irelands counterpart, the Labour Relations Agency. Issues of mutual interest addressed at the most recent joint engagement at official level included the transposition of the EU Directive on temporary agency work and the parallel experience of public consultations conducted on the reform of individual employment rights dispute resolution mechanisms.