Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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320. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the funding provided by his Department, either directly or through a State agency, for upskilling, reskilling, and further education of the workforce in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and to date in 2025, in tabular form. [28788/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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In responding to this Parliamentary Question, the term "workforce" is interpreted to refer to the general labour force in Ireland, excluding staff employed by my Department or the agencies under its remit. Internal training initiatives are, therefore, considered outside the scope of this response.

Ensuring that Irish enterprises have access to high-quality, adaptable and flexible talent is essential to meeting the evolving needs of the economy. My Department and its enterprise agencies collaborate closely with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) and the broader education and training system. We actively participate in the the National Skills Architecture led by DFHERIS. This framework ensures that education and training provision is closely aligned with the skills needs identified across the enterprise sector.

IDA Ireland

The table below outlines total Training Grants paid to IDA Ireland client companies in the years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Grant payments for the year 2025 are not yet available.

Enterprise Ireland

Enterprise Ireland (EI) is committed to accelerating sustainable Irish businesses, with the ambition that exporting Irish companies will become the primary driver of the Irish economy. It supports clients by helping them to start, compete, scale, and connect and fuels client ambition through leadership and capability development. EI is committed to fostering leadership excellence and strengthening the capabilities of Irish businesses, both domestically and globally. Through a team of experienced professionals, EI provides Irish enterprises with the essential skills needed to scale and internationalise sustainably. Enterprise Ireland also offers training grants directly to companies to support the development of management and staff within them. These grants aim to enhance company competitiveness by addressing skills gaps in areas such as leadership, strategy, change management, operational effectiveness, and environmental sustainability.

Tabulated below is the expenditure incurred from 2020. The most recent published data available is to 2023. Enterprise Ireland’s accounts for 2024 are due to be published in the coming weeks.

Local Enterprise Offices

While no specific funding allocation for training is made, the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) fund training and mentoring as part of its package of non-financial supports. Its Measure 2, training and mentoring allocation is included below in tabular form.

Health and Safety Authority

Under its strategic priority of Influence, Educate and Collaborate , the Health and Safety Authority provides awareness raising learning resources to the formal education system and for the workplace. Such health and safety e-learning resources are delivered free of charge through an online portal and can be used to support upskilling, reskilling, and further education among the workforce.

Expenditure incurred by the Authority relating to the on-going development of its e-learning platform, HSAlearning.ie, is set out in the table below. The figures for 2025 e-learning platform are not yet available.

As the competent authority under Regulation 10(1)(g) of the European Communities (Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment) Regulations (ADR), the HSA required to:

• approve driver basic and tanker specialisation training courses;
• examine persons who have completed such training;
• issue driver training certificates; and
• administer the safety adviser examination scheme.