Minister Collins’ address to Shared Island Dialogue ‘Learning from each other – the future of education on a shared island’ - 1 October 2021

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Thank you, Aoibhinn. I am very glad to participate for the Government in this morning’s session of the Shared Island Dialogue on the future of education.

Before we go any further, I would like to publicly congratulate Minister Simon Harris and his wife Caoimhe on the recent birth of their son, Cillian. I know that he was looking forward to participating in this Dialogue, but greater events took priority.

As Minister of State with responsibility for skills and further education, I am delighted with the scope of this morning’s topics in the Dialogue - this discussion is not just about how we can work together, North and South, to enhance accessibility to higher and further education, or indeed, how we could do more on matching skills needs with economic opportunity right across the island. I would suggest the discussion starts about how we enable children to reach their potential from their first encounter with the education system at early years, and then build a scaffold which guides them through their personal, educational and professional lives. Education and training systems, North and South, can learn from each other and share our responses to various policy demands. No one system has all the answers.

Today’s Dialogue is part of the Government’s Shared Island initiative, which was launched by the Taoiseach last October, and through which the Government is working to enhance cooperation, connection and mutual understanding on the island, by pursuing the full potential of the Good Friday Agreement.

Partnership, collaboration and interaction between universities, colleges and research communities is one of the most promising and impactful ways in which we can do more together across the island in the years ahead.

We can enhance not just our institutions and the educational experience they offer, but also our understanding of each other on this island.

I was struck by a contribution by Irish and Ulster rugby legend, Tommy Bowe, to a Shared Island Dialogue on economic recovery last June.

He called for more opportunities, particularly for younger generations, to get to know their neighbours on this island - in positive, practical and exciting ways. Tommy said, “it is only with an understanding of each other that we can build relationships to make a better future”. I am sure Tommy often felt the impact of that relationship in Thomond Park!

But, seriously, this is the important context for our discussions at today’s Dialogue too. Whether we talk of research, skills provision, literacy provision, the foundation stone of relationships is person to person, and the past 18 months has been testament to that. Our responsibility is to put structures in place to enable those relationships to flourish.

There are over 120 stakeholders participating today, representing the full spectrum of our education and research communities, from across Ireland and Northern Ireland.

This is a really exciting virtual gathering. Many of you are working - in a range of different ways - to provide world-class education opportunities for young people on this island; others are conducting or supporting world-leading research, representing critical new knowledge for our future prospects and prosperity; and, importantly, there are young people participating - representing students at all levels of education. As the Taoiseach has said, your voices need to be central to discussions on our shared future on the island.

In the higher and further education and research sectors, there is already strong cooperation and interaction by institutions across the island, which the Government is proud to support, and we want to see that grow in the period immediately ahead.

For instance, our Programme for Government affirms the commitment under the New Decade, New Approach agreement, to expand third level opportunities on a cross-border basis for people in the North West.

The Government is actively progressing discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive and with Ulster University and Letterkenny Institute of Technology on how we further develop third-level education infrastructure for the North West region in integrated and sustainable ways.

This is one example of the many long-standing and developing partnerships between Universities and colleges right across the island, that the Government also wants to foster and support, as part of the Shared Island initiative.

By working together, North and South, in higher and further education we can improve accessibility, expand learning options and provide valuable opportunities for students, staff and for wider society to interact, in practical, meaningful ways.

I am aware that the Royal Irish Academy through its Higher Education Futures Taskforce has conducted extensive and inclusive consultations to prepare an holistic vision for the future of the sector on this island. I look forward to consulting this valuable contribution from the Academy, as an all-island institution of research and learning excellence, when it is published in the weeks ahead.

As Minister of State with responsibility for skills and further education, while I recognise the importance of the impacts of research and innovation, we should not lose sight of the value of an all-island perspective in meeting skills needs on this island in the years ahead.

Our talented and skilled workforce is the foundation of our prosperity, North and South. We need to ensure that remains the case into the future, and there are important opportunities to cooperate more to that end on the island. Skill needs and demands do not recognise borders, and when I look at, for example, the hospitality or tourism industry along the border, the challenges are common, the same impacts of globalisation and digitalisation are felt in both jurisdictions, and those seeking to upskill, or reskill will pursue the opportunity where convenient – whether the programme is provided at Drogheda Institute of Further Education or the Southern Regional College.

Indeed, I will go further - skill needs and demands, AND PROVISION do not recognise borders. The fact is, there are skills shortages and capacity limits in key sectors, North and South. Our students and work force are mobile, and therefore, the challenge is how to deploy our skills, training and labour market on an all-island basis to maximise capacity and productivity, in construction and other sectors, offering employment and business gains, both North and South.

One such example of this in practice is the initiative by Louth and Meath ETB supported by Enterprise Ireland under the Border Enterprise Development Fund, SOLAS and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to establish a national state of the state of art Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre of Excellence in Dundalk which has strong relationships with business on both side of the border will enable the development of future skills for young people. I note a further initiative by Louth and Meath ETB in partnership with Portview Trade Centre which aims to develop advance manufacturing across the island of Ireland that will enable people secure high value jobs that are required in modern manufacturing including automation, robotics, additive manufacturing, Artificial intelligence, virtual reality and associated apprenticeships and traineeships.

For instance, under the Government’s new Action Plan for Apprenticeships, we want to develop new cross-border apprenticeship programmes that can enhance our ability to respond to skills needs, as an all-island economy.

For that reason, under the forthcoming PEACE PLUS programme, an indicative €50 million has been allocated for skills development. This funding will support programmes, including cross-border clusters to respond to sub-regional skills gaps, including through upskilling and life-long learning; delivery of joint educational awards by cross-border partnerships; addressing barriers to participation in skills programmes for marginalised groups; and developing an all-island skills research hub.

The Government has worked closely with Executive in Northern Ireland to develop this exciting dimension to the PEACE PLUS programme, and we look forward to seeing it finalised and then implemented from next year on.

Finally, I want to mention the Government’s strong commitment to releasing the full potential of research cooperation on the island.

This is reflected in the new North / South Research Programme that was launched by the Taoiseach and Minister Harris in July with €40million in funding from the Shared Island Fund over the next five years, to develop and deepen research links between higher education institutions, researchers and research communities on the island.

It has been really encouraging to hear of the huge and wide-ranging interest in the first call for applications under the programme, which the Higher Education Authority is running at present.

The Government is also continuing to work with the Northern Ireland Executive and the UK government to deliver on our ambition to create all-island research centres. Thse will be hubs for collaboration by world-leading researchers from North and South, which can deliver vital knowledge streams for the meeting the needs and realising the full capacity of our shared island in the years ahead.

Whether we talk of further, higher education or research, it is very important that we further enhance the status and value of skills and training North and South. Quite simply, there has to be something in this for everyone

Thank you all for your participation in this Dialogue to discuss these and other exciting aspects of our shared island in the areas of education and research. I will be listening with interest to this morning’s discussions and I look forward to opportunities to meet with many of you in person in the near future.

Thank you.