merrion street

The Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh T.D. has today (Thursday 4 April) hosted the fourth in a series of regional forums with stakeholders in the education and skills sector in Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT).

Minister McHugh and his officials heard from a wide range of voices across the sector with a focus on Brexit and future skills needs.

The forum provided an opportunity to hear from participants about the challenges that the education sector faces as a result of Brexit and raise suggestions to improve the Government’s actions to address workforce needs in the coming years.

Discussions centered on possible strategies and solutions that focus on apprenticeships, marketing opportunities for school leavers, industry needs and supports, upskilling workers, promoting business clusters, cross-border partnerships, status of third level courses and integration of education across different levels.

The Department has committed to reviewing the feedback from the attendees. The forum also heard about the broad range of skills development measures contained in the Action Plan for Education 2019 and Tech Skills 2022. Speaking at the forum,

Minister McHugh said:

Today's forum represents an important opportunity for engagement with all those who may be impacted by Brexit and the need for future skills to meet a fast-changing labour market and plans to meet the challenges that are facing education in particular.

Gathering views and ideas from those who are at the heart of the education, training and skills sector is vital if we are to respond adequately to the needs on the ground today and the demands that will be placed on our workforce as industry and our economy rapidly changes.

Notes to Editor

The DkIT event is the latest in a series of five regional meetings which focus on the following topics:

Education and Training Priorities, 2019 -2021

Higher education and the technological university model

An Ghaeilge

Future Skills and Brexit

Special Ed Needs