There has been a 2.8bn plan put in place to upskill 500,000 workers in Ireland by 2020. The government will have this plan in place by the summer. We were promised The Port Tunnel, Airport Transport Links , M50 all on-time and on budget so I am asking you not to hold out for the summer deadline or proposed cost. This aside I think it is an excellent initiative. It will be a huge project and it will involve bodies like FAS, Universities, VEC’s, employers and obviously the workers.
The obvious problem here is getting the balance right for employers – current versus future demands. Employers on the one hand will reap the long-term benefits of a better skilled workforce BUT in the short term they have to cope with supporting staff through the education and training.
There will have to be flexibility by staff and employees but as we have seen recently with various trade union employer spats and even GAA spats that the various stakeholders in a situation are often not prepared to give ground
