Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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193. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding Brexit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4786/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The National Skills Strategy 2025 identifies Ireland’s current skills profile, provides a strategic vision and specific objectives for Ireland’s future skills requirements, and sets out a road map for how the vision and objectives can be achieved across the education and training sector.

With over 140 Actions, the Strategy sets out the Government's commitment to improving and using skills for sustainable economic growth and outlines how we can develop a well-skilled, adaptable workforce.

The Action Plan for Education was launched in September 2016 and the vision of the Plan is that Irish Education and Training across primary, secondary and third level should become the best in Europe over the next decade.  The plan contains hundreds of actions to be implemented, with particular focus on skills and continuous improvement within the education system.

Amongst the actions are:

- Implementing the new Framework for Junior Cycle with its new short courses, group projects and Junior Cycle Profile of Achievement.

- Putting a new plan in place for DEIS schools to help achieve higher skills, better progression and clear pathways.

- Extending coding and ICT options in school.

- Expand Apprenticeships and Traineeships.

- Develop Regional Skills Plans to respond to local needs.

- Reforming the funding model for Higher Education to support Ireland’s growth ambitions and the system’s capacity to meet specific targets on skills gaps, access for disadvantage groups and have a stronger impact on innovation.

- Increases the availability of quality entrepreneurship programmes and modules in schools, Higher and Further Education.

- Establish a new competitive fund to build Ireland’s research base.

In some cases additional investment will be required while at the same time measures are designed to enhance the performance of the sector, over the three-year period of the Plan.  The central and increasingly important role the growth of talent is playing in economic development and job creation support the need for such investments and improvements. It is envisaged that the document will be a renewable document with yearly updates.

A plan to expand Apprenticeship and Traineeship in Ireland over the period 2016-2020 was published recently. The Plan sets out how we will manage the pipeline of new apprenticeships and also set out the timing and nature of a new call for proposals. The plan sets out specific annual targets as well as bringing forward a range of specific actions to enable and support the development of new apprenticeships and traineeships.  The plan also sets out annual targets, and associated actions, to extend the traineeship model over the period to 2020.  A new Career Traineeship initiative, instigated by SOLAS in collaboration with ETBs and enterprise was initiated, to develop a more effective model of work-based learning, primarily at NFQ levels 4 and 5, incorporating best national and international research and practice.

Recognising that the ‘war for talent’ is now one of the most important factors for job-creation, the Action Plan for Education which I launched last September sets out ambitious plans that will be developed and implemented including a total of 100 apprenticeship schemes and 50 traineeship schemes delivering 50,000 registrations between now and 2020; a 25% increase access to work experience at higher level; 25% increase in flexible learning; and an entrepreneurship education plan. An integral part of the Action Plan is a comprehensive building programme – aimed at delivering over 60,000 additional permanent school places, over 300 extensions to existing schools and build 14 new schools by 2021.