Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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256. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which she has continued to monitor the availability of the requisite skills in the workplace, having particular regard to the skills requirements of the high-tech industry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20894/19]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department and I are aware that it is essential that Irish enterprise has access to high quality, adaptable and flexible talent. In order to meet this demand, the Government is committed to building and retaining a highly skilled indigenous workforce to serve the needs of the economy.

The Government is seeking to advance this goal under the framework of two overarching skills development strategies:

- Ireland's National Skills Strategy 2025, which sets out a vision of how Ireland can continue to develop relevant skills and ensure that the supply of skills is activated and effectively used; and

- The Action Plan for Education 2019, the annual implementation plan for this vision.

The enhancement of skills and the development and attraction of talent also forms a key pillar of Future Jobs Ireland, the new whole of Government strategy for driving Ireland's development as a resilient, innovative, and globally connected economy, capable of coping with technological and other transformational changes.

Ireland's sophisticated skills architecture is key to identifying and responding to skills gaps as identified by enterprise and education and training providers, and therefore supporting the objectives set out in these strategies. It is made up of the following fora, all of which include representation either from my Department or its enterprise and research and innovation agencies:

- National Skills Council (NSC): The NSC was established in 2017. It provides a mechanism for mediating demands on resources in a manner that facilitates the prioritisation of identified skills needs, while also enhancing the response to and delivery of these needs by education and training providers. The Council draws on the work of the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN), the Skills and Labour Market Research Unit in SOLAS, and the network of Regional Skills Fora.

- Regional Skills Fora: A network of 9 Regional Skills Fora foster close co-operation at regional level between education and training providers and regional enterprise. The Fora provide a cohesive education led structure for employers and the further education and higher education system to work together in addressing the skills needs of their regions.

- Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN): The EGFSN is an independent, non-statutory body, which includes representatives from the business and trade union communities, relevant Government Departments, enterprise agencies, and education and training agencies. It identifies the skills required by enterprise across occupations and sectors, as well as providing information to education and training providers to allow them to support the alignment of programmes with employer needs. My Department provides the EGFSN with research and secretariat support.

High level ICT skills have been a key concern for the EGFSN over the past decade, in particular through the undertaking of skills demand forecast studies that have helped inform the various ICT Skills Action Plans published since 2012. The EGFSN recently published the latest of these studies, Forecasting the Future Demand for High Level ICT Skills in Ireland, 2017-2022.

This research- a qualitative and quantitative overview of the market and demand for high level ICT skills in Ireland over the coming years- helped inform the strategic direction and scale of the third ICT Skills Action Plan, Technology Skills 2022, which I launched along with the Minister for Education and Skills earlier this year.

The new plan sets out the supply measures the Government and wider ICT skills stakeholder community have committed to in the years to 2022, in order to meet the scale of demand identified by the EGFSN. At official level, my Department is involved in the High Level Steering Group responsible for monitoring the implementation of Technology Skills 2022.

Through the skills architecture and implementation of the strategies mentioned above, my Department and the Department of Education and Skills will continue to ensure that an adequate and appropriately skilled workforce remains available to meet the requirements of the high tech industry.