Tánaiste Launches £12.7m Training Initiative Employer-Led Body to Spearhead Campaign "Training is Key to Competitive Firms" Harney

"At a time when there is pressure on recruiting skilled employees, it is vital that enterprises become much more aware of the skills needs of their existing employees and increase the quality and level of training they provide," Tánaiste Mary Harney stated today (Tuesday 8th June, 1999) at the launch of Skillnets Ltd., a new company formed to spearhead a major £12.7 million drive over the next three years to assist Irish firms to become more competitive based on a highly trained workforce.

The Tánaiste said that Irish firms "lagged well behind" their counterparts in Europe and farther afield when international comparisons were made in terms of quality and quantum of human resource development at enterprise level. "The new Training Networks Programme, with £12.7 million over three years, is geared towards addressing what is a major structural weakness in Irish enterprise - the high degree of under-investment in training in the vast majority of small and medium sized enterprises in Ireland", the Tánaiste stated.

The Training Networks Programme launched by the Tánaiste will mobilise groups of companies to develop strategies to address common training needs. The fundamental rationale for the establishment of an enterprise-led programme is that of relevance. Training which is driven by the needs of enterprises and their employees has the potential to be most relevant to those needs.

The quality of our human resources - managers, employees and prospective employees is a key determinant in achieving competitive advantage for firms and in sustaining continued economic growth. Investment by firms in their people will help to raise productivity at enterprise level, improve cost competitiveness and export potential, contributing to continued employment creation and longer-term competitiveness. "Firms that do not invest in training will be left behind as competitors, who do take investment in training seriously, forge ahead. Just like a machine that is not serviced properly and regularly, the employee who is not afforded development and training opportunities will suffer", the Tánaiste stressed.

The Tánaiste said that she was pleased that there was such a high level of consensus among the social partners as part of the Partnership 2000 process on the need to 'bridge the skills gap' in enterprises. "The challenge now is for the employer-led Skillnets Ltd to achieve action".

The focus of the networks is on the significant potential payoffs in mobilising groups of companies to share knowledge and to pool resources to tackle common training needs. There is also a huge untapped reservoir of best practice enterprises with experience which can be shared with other companies. By pooling resources and by group-purchasing solutions to common training problems, the costs of accessing training can be reduced for individual network members.

"Over the next three years, my Department will contribute a sum of £9 million to the Training Networks Programme. In addition, the European Social Fund will provide £1.7 million in aid to the programme this year. At least £2 million will be contributed by companies involved in the networks," the Tánaiste said.

"This represents a major commitment on the part of the Government to supporting a new and innovative approach to enterprise training. It is a practical demonstration of our commitment in the Programme for Government to raising the skills profile of the workforce by encouraging investment in human resources development.

I expect that this programme will, in particular, prove to be a vehicle for small and medium sized enterprises to address their specific training needs", the Tánaiste continued.

The Tánaiste stressed, however, that taxpayers money "could not be committed indefinitely to supporting firms to boost their training requirements. Public funding for this programme is intended to be a 'kick-start' and my objective is that the initiative should become self-sustaining in the longer term".

A company called Skillnets Ltd has been established to oversee the programme. The Board comprises twelve people plus a Chairperson, representative of business, trade unions and State bodies (see Notes for Editors). The Chief Executive is Ms. Marie Hunt.

To coincide with the launch, a public call for proposals will be advertised in an intensive campaign involving national newspapers, regional seminars and local media. The objective is to have proposals from this initial call assessed in July and to have the networks of companies up and running by September.

Proposals are being sought under three headings:

- Companies which are ready to operate as a network.

- Companies which are interested in developing a network proposal

- Research-type projects related to training and development (these might, for example, explore the barriers to companies investing in training and identify solutions to overcoming these barriers).