Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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670. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills how his Department plans to promote continuous lifelong training for all; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21319/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Promoting the importance of lifelong learning has been a key focus for my Department which has been demonstrated in the approach we have been taking since its establishment three years ago, putting skills at the centre of policy development, raising awareness of the importance of skills, and creating and highlighting multiple re-skilling and upskilling initiatives and learning opportunities available to everyone.

This focus has also been underpinned by the findings of the OECD’s Skills Strategy Review published on 9 May 2023. As highlighted in the OECD Review there is a substantial provision of lifelong learning opportunities across all the tertiary education system in Ireland, offered, for example, through such initiatives as Springboard+, the Human Capital Initiative, Skills to Advance and the work of Skillnet Ireland- and its leading role in supporting employers of all sizes, with their up-skilling and re-skilling needs.

Although Ireland’s lifelong learning performance exceeds EU average levels, with a 54.8% adult participation in lifelong learning rate recorded in 2022, based on the latest results of the Adult Education Survey, we are aware that more needs to be done to embed and foster a culture of lifelong learning and training, where learning isn’t incidental or re-active but becomes a social and economic investment into the future.

This is why my Department will now build on the momentum generated by the recently concluded European Year of Skills, which saw in the past year alone some 99+ events organised and registered by the Department and its partners, on the EYS map for Ireland, available at year-of-skills.europa.eu/events-and-activities_en. Those events, which took place all over the country, included communication and awareness-raising campaigns on the importance of lifelong learning and availability of upskilling and reskilling options.

As part of the European Year of Skills, my Department also ran an advertising campaign to promote awareness around reskilling and upskilling. Almost 30,000 people visited gov.ie/skills to learn more as a result of this campaign. The campaign was in line with key Department and partner-led efforts aimed at assisting people to navigate the rich offering of learning opportunities available such as The Right Course, Smart Choices, Smart Futures.

Together with our partners across the skills ecosystem we are collectively placing a renewed emphasis on lifelong learning and recognising skills as a cornerstone to empower people and businesses, and support innovation and competitiveness. This partnership approach is underpinned by the ongoing work of the network of nine Regional Skills Fora, which work to address skills needs at local level, by assisting enterprise to find the solution that best fits their needs. New initiatives, such as the pilot scheme to incentivise SMEs currently in development, will continue to strengthen this partnership approach.

My Department will continue to work to further enhance Ireland’s lifelong learning performance and to build on the success we have had to date in this sphere.

Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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671. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills how his Department plans to support skills related to both green and digital transition; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21320/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Green Skills are essential for meeting the ambitious climate targets set out by the Government in the Climate Action Plan and for the Green Transition. These range from the development of transferable green skills for life, through specific skills requirements for emerging green sectors of the economy including offshore wind and other renewable energy initiatives, electric vehicles and Near Zero Energy Buildings/ Retrofit.

SOLAS are currently developing Ireland’s 1^st National FET Skills Strategy for the Green Transition. The purpose of this strategy is to collate national policy for the green transition across all sectors of climate action policy and identify the relevant transversal, specific and highly specialised skills required at levels NFQ 1-6. The strategy is due to be launched in October 2024.

The National FET Skills Strategy for the Green Transition is in addition to the SOLAS Green Skills for FET 2021-2030 document launched in March 2022. This outlines three core objectives in respect of green skills in the FET sector:

• Developing Green Skills for Life, including the expansion of green skills training and awareness across the FET sector;
• Developing Green Skills for Construction, including training and upskilling those in construction in the latest green technologies; and
• Green Skills for Careers, to create career opportunities in the green economy for the employed, unemployed and those within vulnerable sectors.

• A Level 4 (Level 3 EQF) micro-qualification in Environmental Sustainability Awareness
• A Level 5 (Level 4 EQF) micro-qualification in Environmental Sustainability in the Workplace, and
• A general introduction to Green Skills module developed in partnership with SEAI, and open to all learners online via the eCollege portal.

• Increase the numbers of learners graduating with higher-level digital skills to over 12,400 graduates, apprentices and trainees
• Increase the share of adults in Ireland with at least basic digital skills to 80%