Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the discussions he has had with industry or their representatives in relation to skills shortages here; the reason, in view of our unemployment situation, that some employers cannot fill vacancies; if he has consulted with the Department of Education and Science in relation to the shortage of necessary graduates to fill vacancies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41651/12]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs advises the Minister for Education and Skills and me, on behalf of the Government, on current and future skills needs of the economy and on other labour market issues that impact on Ireland’s enterprise and employment growth. In its most recent National Skills Bulletin, which was published on 25 July last, the Expert Group stated that it considers "skills shortages" to refer to a situation where there are an insufficient number of individuals who have the required qualifications, skills set, and/or experience to fill a particular post. The Expert Group considers that current skills shortages almost entirely have third level qualification requirements, coupled with experience and a specific skills mix. The National Skills Bulletin found that the magnitude of shortages is unlikely to be greater than several hundreds in terms of headcount for the overall economy, with the exception of IT skills where the demand is greater especially for experienced personnel who are in demand and short supply globally. Job vacancies were most frequent for sales and related occupations, including marketing (especially digital marketing) and customer services roles. Vacancies also arose for IT professionals, science and engineering professionals, business professionals, administrative occupations, IT associate professionals, and personal care occupations. Language skills continue to be important, particularly for sales and customer service roles but also at a professional level (e.g. ICT, engineering and finance).

The conclusions of the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs with regard to the incidence of shortages in specialist skills categories that require a specific skill mix, and also in relation to the persistence of some difficult to fill vacancies, concur with my own experience based on continuing discussions with employers and their industry level representatives. The Government has brought education and training to the heart of its Action Plan for Jobs. Initiatives such as Springboard, the ICT Conversion Programme and the target to double the annual number of honours degree ICT graduates to 2,000 by 2018 are aimed at delivering the skills needed by enterprise. n Graduates from these programmes are available to industry and increasing numbers will qualify over the next 18 months. We will continue to depend on inward migration for highly experienced specialists in ICT who are in short supply globally. While these are small in number; their recruitment is linked to the additional hiring of a team of graduates and professional staff. In the area of multilingual skills requirements, I met exporting companies when I launched the Expert Group Report on Key Skills for Enterprise to Trade Internationally. I am working with the Minister, Deputy Quinn, in the context of the Action Plan for Jobs 2013 to address the specific recommendations in relation to sales and foreign language skills development as identified by companies. My Department continues to work closely with the Department of Education and Skills to ensure our workforce is well aligned with the skills that employers need now and into the future.