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Education Schemes

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 December 2013

Tuesday, 17 December 2013

Questions (172, 215, 226)

Nicky McFadden

Question:

172. Deputy Nicky McFadden asked the Minister for Education and Skills if a review of the scope and governance of the ICT action plan will be carried out to encompass all sources of ICT skills supply and ensure clarity of responsibilities for the overall co-ordination and implementation of actions, as recommended in the Forfás report, Addressing Future Demand for High-Level ICT Skills, November 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53946/13]

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Nicky McFadden

Question:

215. Deputy Nicky McFadden asked the Minister for Education and Skills if additional iterations of the NFQ level 8 conversion programme will be run in 2014 as a strategic response to meeting ICT skills demand, as recommended by the Forfás report, Addressing Future Demand for High-Level ICT Skills, November 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53952/13]

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Gerry Adams

Question:

226. Deputy Gerry Adams asked the Minister for Education and Skills the number of the 900,000 jobs mentioned he expects to be created in Ireland by 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52544/13]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 172, 215 and 226 together.

My Department and the Department of Jobs Enterprise and Innovation are jointly leading the process to develop a new ICT Skills Action Plan to be launched in tandem with the Action Plan for Jobs 2014. A study was undertaken for the European Commission in April 2013 which projected that there may be up to 900,000 ICT job vacancies in Europe by 2015. While that report did not provide a breakdown of the potential vacancies by country, the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) has just published a report which estimates that there will be more than 44,500 potential job openings for ICT professionals in Ireland over the period from 2013 to 2018, including almost 20,400 potential job openings for both new graduates and skilled professionals between 2013 and 2015.

The findings of the EGFSN study are informing the development of the new ICT Skills Plan which will replace the Government's first ICT skills Action Plan launched in 2012 as a collaboration between Government, industry and the education system to increase the supply of high level ICT graduates. The study also shows that the output of mainstream computer graduates has increased by 25% over the last 2 years and a doubling of graduate output now expected to be achieved by 2015 – 3 years ahead of the Action Plan target of 2018. In addition, as part of the Plan, almost 1,500 places have been provided for graduate jobseekers under two the rounds of the ICT graduate skills conversion programmes that have issued to date and 6,000 places have been provided on ICT programmes under the three rounds of the Springboard reskilling initiative that have issued since 2011. A call for new rounds of the ICT upskilling and conversion courses is expected to issue in early 2014.

It is intended that the scope of the revised Plan will be broadened to encompass measures to increase the supply of highly skilled ICT professionals from abroad as well as an increase the domestic supply of high level ICT graduates.

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