[15.11.2007 first posted on silicon republic]
Ireland’ state education system on its own won’t be in a position to deliver on the reskilling, upskilling and training demands of our future economy, with almost a million new workers required between now and 2020, the head of BT Ireland has warned.

BT Ireland chief executive Chris Clark warned this week that, unless major policy changes occur, a significant proportion of Ireland’s workforce will remain low skilled in 2020, with their highest level of educational attainment below upper secondary level.
This, he warned, will result in an under-supply of skills at the higher levels and an over-supply of those at the lower levels.
“Ireland faces a considerable challenge in sourcing the skills required to maintain economic growth levels and attract inward investment. Declining uptake in IT related courses at third level since 2000 is already placing a burden on Irish employers.
“As Ireland’s largest provider of IT training solutions, our annual output of trained IT professionals across Ireland demonstrates how the private sector has an important role in assisting the Government to bridge this skills gap,” Clark warned.
He was speaking at the unveiling of a €1m investment by BT this week of what will be the largest IT training centre in Ireland, capable of an output of training and certifying over 8,000 IT professionals a year.
The Government’s Expert Group on Future Skills Needs estimates that the Irish economy will need almost a million – some 950,000 – new workers between now and 2020.
It is envisaged a significant proportion of these will be in the area of ICT. This demand will be met through the young school leaving cohort of 640,000 people and through increased participation and continuing to attract inward migration, which may yield 310,000 people.
Areas that the BT training centre will provide training for will include advanced networking, security, unified communications, knowledge management and best-practice professional skills for the ICT sector. The new centre complements BT Ireland’s existing facility at Airport Road West in Belfast.
“The launch of the centre will enhance BT Ireland’s market proposition as the complete networked IT solutions partner to organisations of all sizes throughout the island,” Clark added.
“We see considerable scope for growing the training segment of our business through securing stand-alone training solutions for customers and also as an enhancement of the broader networked IT solutions being provided to existing clients. ”
Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment Micheál Martin TD acknowledged that developing and maintaining a pool of suitably skilled workers is critical to the future economic success of the country.
“Investments such as this, made by organisations operating in the private sector, play a key part in the delivery of Government policy in the area of future skills development.
“It is my view that this investment, as well as others in this area, will result in long-term benefits in terms of providing the Irish economy with a pool of skilled labour that can attract inward investment as well as giving Irish-owned enterprises an edge over their international competitors,” the Minister added.
By John Kennedy