Vol. 561 No. 4
200 Mr. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she has satisfied herself in regard to the adequacy of skills in the IT sector; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4754/03]
Given the importance of the IT sector to the economy, the Government keeps under regular review the situation with regard to supply and demand for IT skills. In response to the considerable growth in recent years in the demand for persons with IT skills, State investment in relevant education and training was considerably expanded and the current provision is broadly adequate to meet the foreseeable demands for IT skills in the economy. The challenge for the future is to continue to provide for the range of skills, and particularly the higher level skills, which are increasingly in demand in the sector. For this reason, investment in IT training continues to be of importance in developing the Irish workforce and supporting future economic growth in the sector.
In the last few years, when it was obvious that the supply of skills, having regard to the output from Irish colleges and training institutions, was inadequate to meet the skill needs of the economy, I was happy to support the attraction to Ireland of skilled IT professionals through the operation of the working visa-work authorisation scheme. The downturn in the global economy and particularly the IT sector now suggests that it would be timely to look again at the sector specific forecast of the likely demand and supply for ICT skills into the medium term which was set out in the third report of the expert group on future skills needs. The EGFSN has planned to undertake a new study of the IT sector this year. I look forward to their report as an important input to the development of Government policy in this area.
