Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 May 2013
32. Deputy Seamus Kirk asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if a shortage of appropriately skilled workers is causing vacancies to be remain unfilled in the informational technology sector; the way he believes this can be addressed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24410/13]
View answerThe ICT sector is of strategic importance to the Irish economy, in terms of both its contribution to exports and the number of high-skilled professionals employed. There is a growing demand for ICT skills, with employment in the Irish ICT sector increasing by around 7% in 2012. While new job creation is a contributor to demand for IT professionals, many vacancies continue to arise as a result of turnover and replacement, rather than expansion of demand.
Vacancies in the sector that are considered difficult to fill are estimated at about 1,800 positions. These positions are mainly for ICT professionals with several years’ experience. They include computing professionals, ICT networking specialists, ICT security professionals, telecommunications engineers, ICT project managers, ICT skills combined with Sales & Marketing skills and ICT Technical skills combined with foreign language proficiency. There is strong global demand for such skills. Such positions, which may be filled from domestic supply and inward migration, are taking longer to fill than they should.
Last year my colleague the Minister for Education and Skills and I launched the Joint Government - Industry ICT Action Plan: Meeting the High Level ICT Skills Needs of Enterprise in Ireland. This is a collaborative system-wide response across Government, state agencies, education and enterprise sectors aimed at building a pipeline of talented ICT graduates to sustain expansion and development of the sector and to support innovation and growth across all other sectors of the economy.
As part of the ICT Action Plan almost 1,500 places have been provided under two rounds of the ICT graduate Skills Conversion Programme since 2012. These programmes, which are designed and delivered in partnership with industry, are targeted at graduate jobseekers who wish to acquire honours degree level programming skills for employment opportunities in ICT.
More than 400 people have already graduated from the programmes and a further 300 are due to graduate before the end of 2013. In addition, almost 900 people graduated from ICT upskilling programmes in 2012 under the Springboard initiative and a further 600 are expected to graduate during 2013. The ICT Action Plan has helped raise awareness of employment opportunities in ICT generally and there have been further increases in demand for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) courses at full time undergraduate level.
Technology courses accounted for 20% of all honours degree level first preference applications through the CAO this year. The increase in demand from students for technology courses, including a 50% increase in first preference applications for computing over the past 5 years, is a very positive step in building the future supply of ICT graduates.
While increasing the supply of high-level skills from domestic sources is vital, there continues to be a need to supplement Ireland’s skills stock through Employment Permits. The number of permits issued to persons in the ICT sector continues to grow, accounting for 46% of all new permits issued in 2012. In terms of occupations, professionals accounted for almost 60% of all new permits and of these the majority were for IT roles.
The 2013 Action Plan for Jobs includes significant refinements to the employment permits system including new policies and changes. These are designed to attract the skills we require to complement initiatives in the education and training sectors so that Ireland can build its supply of high-level ICT skills and enhance its reputation as a location with a secure supply of skills and talent. The demand for ICT skills is expected to remain strong based on recent announcements by both foreign-owned multinationals and indigenous companies in the ICT sector and across other sectors of the economy.
