Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 3 Dec 1996

Vol. 472 No. 3

Written Answers. - Job Creation.

Robert Molloy

Question:

45 Mr. Molloy asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment his views on whether there is a mis-matching of job skills and job locations in the job creation programme of the Industrial Development Authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23202/96]

Minister for Enterprise and Employment (Mr. R. Bruton)

IDA Ireland actively pursues prospects for new inward investment, as well as encouraging existing investors to expand their operations and locate additional functions in Ireland.

When promoting sites in Ireland to potential overseas investors, IDA provides information on availability of relevant skills, education and infrastructure. In this regard IDA highlights the availability of third level institutions and FÁS training centres in its marketing of Ireland.

The availability and quality of skills in Ireland is one of the key competitive advantages we have in attracting inward investment to Ireland. This has been, and continues to be, attested to by the overseas companies located here and it is imperative that we maintain this competitive advantage.

Steps have been taken by my Department, in conjunction with the Department of Education to ensure that the future needs of industry, both indigenous and overseas, for specialist software and electronic skills can be met through universities and regional technical colleges and additional places have already been made available.

With further substantial growth anticipated in the telemarketing business over the next few years, it is also important that language skills continue to be available to meet projected requirements. Accordingly, my Department and IDA Ireland have been working with FÁS to ensure that sufficient foreign language skills are available in the short term and with the Department of Education in regard to this issue for the long term. As a result, a number of specialised courses have been made available during the year and this effort will continue.

The decision on where an inward investing company locates is based on a wide range of factors such as availability of buildings, transportation facilities and costs, support services locally and availability of skills. In the final analysis, it is the incoming investor who decides where to locate by reference to the particular needs of the enterprise in question, including the availability of vocational skills. In that way the correlation between the location of inward investment projects and skills availability is maximised.