Good evening ladies and gentlemen,
I am pleased to be here in the Law Society this evening to launch the 2011 training plan of the Law Society Finuas Network and to acknowledge the Law Society’s great achievement in winning the Irish Institute of Training and Development’s 2011 Networks and Group Award.
My thanks to John Costelloe, the Society’s President and Ken Murphy, Director General for their kind invitation.
I also wish to acknowledge the contribution of my fellow guests, John Gorman, President of the IITD and Alan Nuzum, CEO of Skillnets Limited, to the achievements being celebrated here this evening.
In the current economic and financial climate it is now more important than ever that we place greater emphasis on the upskilling and honing of the skills of our work force.
It is crucial that we maximise the truly significant human capital potential that we have within our workforce.
The quality of our people, in terms of education, experience and innovation, is tremendous.
However, as the global economy ebbs and flows, and particular areas predominate and specialise from time to time we must be positioned to keep up with, and keep ahead of, fast moving sectoral developments.
This is just as true in the legal area as it is in the technologically driven areas such as biopharmaceuticals, medical devices or I.T.
Indeed, with the diversification in the international financial services sector into new and burgeoning areas, such as Islamic finance or green finance, it is clear that we need to be constantly upskilling, training and networking to survive and flourish.
That adaptability and flexibility in training and upskilling approaches is the rationale for what the Finuas Networks Training Programme has been doing since 2009 and what it continues to do today.
I am pleased that the Law Society Finuas Network is helping to ensure that the relevant skills of legal and tax advisors are being developed and diversified to an international financial services standard of expertise.
This is evident in areas such as international regulation and compliance, international funds structures and harmonisation of international financial services.
Last year almost 370 trainees benefited from over 700 training days delivered through the Finuas programme.
The network has also developed a number of new specialised programmes for legal and taxation professionals.
One example of this is the highly successful Post-Graduate Diploma in International Financial Services Law developed in collaboration with the Commercial Law Centre, UCD.
The network drew on the excellent relationships networks have with companies and academic institutions to develop this programme in a short timeframe.
The Diploma has been designed with significant input and feedback from member firms.
It is accredited at Level 8 on the National Framework of Qualifications.
Moreover, all its lectures were open to Finuas Network members as a public lecture series in order to facilitate learners who could not commit to a full time course.
Achievements of this type and calibre were recently recognised at the Irish Institute of Training and Development awards.
The ‘Networks and Groups’ award which the Society won was for a combination of the work of the Law Society Skillnet, its Finuas Network and its Professional Training Networks.
All of these are distinct learning networks but they work together in a strategic way under the umbrella of the Society to maximise the learning opportunities in the sector.
I congratulate the Law Society on its achievements in this year’s awards.
The 2011 Overall Winner Award recognised several aspects.
It recognised in the Law Society:-
the focus on developing relevant new certified training programmes,
the focus on quality assurance in programmes being developed and delivered, and
the support for the competitiveness of companies, their employees and the range of supports provided to job-seekers within the legal sector.
The award equally acknowledged new course design and development by the Law Society Skillnet such as the Post-Graduate Certificate in Teaching Learning and Assessment, run in collaboration with the Dublin Institute of Technology.
This is the first stage of a Masters Degree programme and has generated employment for graduates by opening doors to new employment opportunities in professional education.
The award also recognises the Law Society Skillnet collaborative Post-Graduate Certificate in Mediation and Conflict Intervention being run in collaboration with NUI Maynooth.
Two weeks ago I was out at the headquarters of Skillnets Limited to launch the evaluation report on their pilot Job-seekers Support Programme and the further mainstreaming of that programme in 2011 across a broader range of networks.
I am aware that increasing the employability of job-seekers by providing them with skills which would allow them to either re-enter their previous sector or transfer into alternative sectors is also a key part of the Finuas Networks Programme.
Both the Law Society Finuas and Law Society Skillnet have demonstrated this facilitation process by delivering programmes that can assist professionals within the legal sector to specialise in newer legal areas - such as the green sector - or to move to new areas altogether such as training or international financial services.
It is vital that with so many people unemployed today, upskilling the workforce is one of the most effective tools in ensuring that our economy stays competitive and innovation driven.
Training that companies want and need, and which is properly focussed, can benefit those seeking to enter a particular sector and greatly helps to ensure that our economy remains well-placed in the race with other global economies in competing for future business.
Programmes such as Finuas and the Skillnets Training Networks Programmes are invaluable in this context.
Since 1999, Skillnets has facilitated over 50,000 Irish enterprises in over 300 networks to improve the range, scope and quality of training.
It has allowed over 240,000 employees to upskill and meet their work related training needs.
The Law Society has clearly recognised the advantages and positive outcomes of involvement in these types of programmes and in so doing has addressed the interests of companies, trainees and of the sector as a whole.
I congratulate everyone involved in the Law Society Finuas Network and the Law Society Skillnet on their great achievements thus far and I wish you every success in developing and building on the achievements highlighted this evening.
Thank you