Minister Harris address to IBEC National Council, 14 May 2021

Good morning everyone.

It is good to be here with the IBEC National Council this morning.

Can I start by offering my sincere thanks to IBEC member companies at the outset for your efforts to get us all through the last year or so.

It has been an extraordinarily tough time for businesses but I’m so glad to be here today as we hope and dare to expect a better ‘second half of the year’.

What we already knew, but what COVID-19 showed us in the starkest way, is that the world is changing, and the pace of change is accelerating.

We are living through, and guardians of, an age of transformation, disruption, opportunity.

Ireland’s successes of the past as an open island economy in the EU, how we have crafted our economy through foreign direct investment and trade, have fuelled our social and cultural progress and has helped shape us into a self-confident nation.

In the world of politics they say that all elections are won by communicating change. And we don’t need to look very far in the world of business or our own personal lives to see change marching at pace, change largely pushed by digitalisation and the green agenda.

What I would like to talk about this morning is what that change should mean for my department, a department leading policy on skills, training and further and higher education, and what this means for business and for the wider public service.

In many ways, it all begins and ends with people.

We share an ambition to enhance human capability and productivity, so that every person in this country has the ability to pursue opportunities and deliver on their full potential.

That is, every person regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, background or postal address.

Through investment and the right supports, our work now will seed an economy of businesses which are sustainable, innovative and competitive.

The experience of the global pandemic has disrupted economies worldwide and our future is somewhat unpredictable, though it is certain that it will accelerate us towards a digitally dominated economy.

Also, what we know with certainty is that education and the development of indigenous capacity are the most reliable foundational investments in an unpredictable and volatile economic environment.

The pandemic has fundamentally altered work mobility.

And with this, we see that talent is becoming ever more mobile. It is likely that large multi-nationals will now pursue talent more than geography and that investment will become more dispersed.

Our education, research and innovation systems will therefore become even more important in attracting and retaining FDI into the future. And that’s even before we talk about the global debate on tax, but maybe that’s for another day.

The vision – a smart, knowledge-based economy

Where does this leave us and how do we build upon our successes to date and craft a new future?

The economic evidence shows us the key role of innovation in driving economic output. The presence of high-quality universities, strong human capital, good education and a robust research base, are crucial. There is a massive knock on effect as this expertise spills over into the rest of the economy. I believe our future lies in a new frontier, an innovation frontier. This will help to secure Ireland’s competitive position which is good for all businesses, regardless of size, and good for communities, good for social fabric.

As you all know, economies are becoming increasingly knowledge-based. The rapid expansion of knowledge and increasing reliance on computerisation and big data analytics means change for economies as they become more dependent on intellectual capital and skills, and less dependent on the traditional production process. When we look to successful international economic strategies, they have a laser focus on the development of human capability, placing the growth of talent and knowledge through education, skills and research at their very core.

So what does the development of human capability mean and what is our shared understanding of productivity as we set about to renew our country and our economy?

Developing human productivity is not only the way in which businesses will thrive, it is also the means in itself. This is key. We want a strong economy and flourishing businesses in our cities, towns and villages, because we want to enhance the quality of life for people across our nation.

The role of education, research and innovation, and their relationship with skills development, are key drivers of productivity in the workforce and in businesses. This, through the work of my department, is a key component of Ireland’s economic growth model and, as a result, the economic and social welfare of our people.

Our discussions around productivity should not be limited just to upskilling or education. Though key as they are. Our public services play a vital role in delivering productivity and human capability. A full and complete understanding of capability must recognise this.

As a government, we must invest in our social infrastructure to boost the productivity of people and thereby raise growth. Investing in health and education to improve human capabilities is central to the scheme of things.

Housing, childcare, transport, and leisure facilities – these are key factors to deliver human capability.

And without such investments, inequality will widen and in turn the growth process itself will falter.

I’ve spoken about changes to work, the economy and society. Because so much of this change is driven largely by global megatrends related to communications, climate change, digitalization and new consumer behaviours and priorities, the global competition for talent, skills, and people will intensify.

So we need to innovate, develop knowledge and enhance productivity to secure the welfare of our country, but also to survive and thrive as an open economy in an internationalised market. No one owes Ireland a living.

My department may not be known to the man or woman on the street but it carries the weight of their future on its shoulders.

The future of education, skills, research, innovation and therefore work. A new department emerging from an unprecedented time.

I’ve spoken about the development of human capability and how building a highly skilled workforce has been a bedrock of Ireland’s economic and social transformation.

The Statement of Strategy for my department, our mission statement, spotlights the intensified investment required in the areas indispensable to economic recovery and restored employment post COVID-19.

It speaks of accelerated progress in building Ireland’s knowledge economy, which will allow us to successfully navigate the green and digital transitions.

And here’s the potential magic we have.

By fusing economic and educational functions, we will have a department that embodies a concrete step towards realising both a closer economic, and social cohesion.

My department has a huge responsibility to deliver for the future of Ireland, across a wide range of areas. I’m passionate about the work I and the department does for people, from those struggling with basic literacy, people who have been locked out and left behind, to researchers working at the highest level on the global stage. Everyone is equal and deserves the chance to fulfil their individual potential.

We can’t do it alone and that’s why I am here today. Our approach is partnership, as you know, and it’s fantastic to have the engagement we have with IBEC.

The National Skills Council, the Regional Skills Fora, the National Training Fund Advisory Group and the Apprenticeship Council are some of our partnership mechanisms, with the education and training system, and their industry representatives. We appreciate the strong engagement from IBEC across these. We applaud the creativity and ambition of your members through collaboration.

I’d like to take a moment to talk some more about potential partnership structures that I am considering to support the generation of this highly skilled workforce.

The increased resources generated in the National Training Fund through the activities of enterprises you represent has been critical to supporting and reorienting our higher education system to meeting priority skill needs over recent years. This Fund – projected to reach in excess of €850m by end year - is, a key national strategic asset to increase productivity through lifelong learning, reskilling and upskilling.

And yes, while expenditure from the NTF is governed by the overall Government fiscal framework I am committed to working with you and others to ensure that we deploy available NTF resources to deliver in a forceful and impactful way on our broad lifelong learning priorities.

A particular focus must be the needs of those with low or no qualifications who are at risk of long-term exclusion from employment opportunities and from full societal participation.

I am committed to working with you and others to develop options for how this could be best achieved. Let’s together develop a new Pact for Skills for our country.

The overarching challenge we face is to support both enterprise, the workers in those enterprises and those seeking sustainable and quality employment to see skills and learning for what it is – enhancing human capability. In essence we need more businesses and more people to see the options, the opportunities and indeed the necessity of skills development and lifelong learning. We need to change the culture in this country. Your education journey is no longer a block of time. It continues throughout your life.

There is no shortage of international models available to us to examine - for example, individual learning accounts, training grants, subsidies and vouchers - but there is no off-the-shelf model that will necessarily be effective in an Irish context – we must commit to the collaboration in developing that ourselves. But we are not starting from zero. We can draw on the achievements of the national skills system to date and we can capture the knowledge, experience and expertise embodied by stakeholders to develop new and innovative models.

There are already two key targeted upskilling and reskilling initiatives within the Higher Education sector, aimed at supporting employment through skills development and increasing participation rates in lifelong learning - Springboard+ and the Human Capital Initiative (HCI). Under these initiatives, 15,000 new places have been made available to people seeking to upskill or reskill, including over 4,000 places as a direct response to skills needs arising from the pandemic.

I launched the Action Plan for Apprenticeship last month and I want to thank IBEC and your members for your level of engagement with the department. This is another opportunity to embrace lifelong learning within our workforce. Without employers there can be no apprenticeships and the plan will support increased employer engagement with apprenticeship, aimed at effectively doubling the number of new apprentice registrations to 10,000 per annum by 2025.

Just as learning takes place at all stages of life, the opportunity to study should not be only about Dublin or our major cities. That is why I am excited about the strategic programme of reform for technological universities which will deliver a road to the regions for learners.

I can’t leave the point of education without addressing funding. The European Commission commissioned a comprehensive review on the funding sustainability of higher education in Ireland, including an examination of how best to strike a balance between higher and further education in meeting skill needs. This report is due shortly but it will not be gathering dust on a shelf as I intend to act on it. Hand in hand with this, there will be reform requirements as we work together to produce a system that is flexible, agile and responsive.

In addition to lifelong learning, we must also focus on three other key areas - research and innovation strategies, an integrated third level system and social inclusion. These are interconnected, symbiotic and synergetic.

Research and Innovation

I’ve mentioned innovation as a key driver for future economic success and I would like to delve a little deeper now as it is a key pillar of work for my department.

Other countries are investing heavily in research and innovation as part of their recovery plans. Why?

The economic evidence has shown the key role of innovation in both the production and use of technology in terms of driving economic output, in addition to the spillover into the rest of the economy.

We want to be at the forefront for trade and inward investment, and want to ensure the productivity performance of our smaller firms is developed and supported. We must grow further our national research capacity.

Our competitor countries are already investing more proportionately in public research and development. Put simply, Ireland cannot afford NOT to invest in research and I am committed to securing government support for this.

A strong research platform is critical for inward investment, it results in more productive firms, provides higher-quality employment, and enables quality third-level research-informed teaching, stimulating the researchers, entrepreneurs and innovators of tomorrow. And, research is needed to address some of our greatest policy challenges in areas such as climate change, aging and health. We have demonstrated that admirably in the last year national and globally when it comes to COVID-19.

As such, it is clear that Ireland’s national Research and Innovation system is a critical platform upon which much of Ireland’s economic and social development is dependent. It attracts foreign direct investment and it generates new ideas, which improve our prosperity and the way we work and live. Research and Innovation is globally recognised as a key economic differentiator.

And yes, we have increased our investment in research over the past decade. Yes, we have introduced a range of measures to improve commercialisation of research and build strong linkages between the higher education sector and enterprise.

But we have more to do.

We are here as a department to join the dots and lead the charge with all partners and stakeholders for research and innovation as the future of our recovery.

We are now developing a new national Strategy for Research and Innovation which will strengthen the capability and capacity of our research and innovation system to deliver excellence and impact and make a real difference to the lives of all our citizens.

Integrated Third level system

I want to talk about our ambitions for a connected third level system.

The mind shift we need to consider is how our third level system is designed and how education pathways are perceived by learners. And let me tell you what we are working towards as one of the key priorities for the department: a kitchen in Ireland where a leaving cert student sits at the table with her laptop, talking to friends and family about what she wants to do with her life. Her school system has supported her with guidance counsellors and other supports. She knows that she has a range of options across further and higher education, and apprenticeship. She decides where she wants to go, what qualifications she wants based on jobs available, her passion, her motivation and her interest. She opens a page on her laptop which gives her information on all available options. It tells her how she can transfer from one to the other. She sees other courses – part time or modular, specific skills training – and she knows that this is the beginning of the rest of her learning life. She can make the right decision for her ambitions at 17/18, knowing that the system will enable change, her growth and development, her lifelong learning.

To progress, we need to remove the narrow and sometimes elitist view of third level in Ireland. We need a fully integrated third level sector. There isn’t a right or wrong way to learn. There are different ways. People have been pointing this out for decades but it remains undone. This means we have yet to reach our full potential. What’s more - the current situation has allowed a points race to get out of control and place appalling levels of pressure and stress on young people in our country.

It has seen massive dropout rates in some courses. So rectifying this and joining up the system, is a huge priority for me and my department.

Social inclusion and equality

The final theme I want to address is equality and social inclusion.

I spoke about a leaving cert student earlier but really lifelong learning is most effective when it starts early in life. The first years of life are critical for developing cognitive and social skills. Evidence shows that access to high-quality early childhood education and care has a lasting effect on achievement in school and beyond. And we are back to my original remarks about productivity and human capability - this stretches beyond the realm of industry into a productive public service. It’s a wraparound mission. Despite improvements in school education and training, too many young people still leave school early and too many have major problems with basic skills, such as reading, science and mathematics.

The same is true for adults. One of the reasons I am spearheading our new National Adult Literacy Strategy is because we live in a country where one in six Irish adults can’t read or struggle with reading.

So, I tasked SOLAS with the development of a new 10 year strategy for adult literacy, numeracy and digital literacy. This will be cross-government and cross-society. We want everyone to have the literacy, numeracy and digital literacy to meet their needs and participate fully in society. And we are talking about much broader concepts of literacy such as digital literacy, environmental and ecoliteracy, financial literacy, health literacy and media literacy. We will make our public services serve the citizen by using Plain English. I plan to bring this strategy to Government next month.

On the inclusion agenda also, at the moment we are preparing our new National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education. There are many initiatives where employers are partnering with higher education institutions to open up employment, placement and internship opportunities for students from our National Access Plan target groups. I want to see this continue and develop in the new Plan.

Education – be it higher, further or literacy - raises the productivity of individuals, and thus of the wider economy. The higher the level of education, the more likely people are to participate in the labour force.

So, we need to ensure that when we are rebuilding our economy, we are making a special effort to build opportunities for younger people, people from another country, women and people who have a disability.

The remarkable thing about any crisis, is that these moments necessarily require us to reset the dial, to stop doing automatically what we usually do and to re-examine and reflect. We question what we thought were our truths – for example working in a particular location or having to travel to get to a conference.

Crises require us to respond by creating new norms, new expectations. We begin to do something different where perhaps we had no precedents.

So now as we are planning for the careful reopening of our society, things have changed for many of us. Some may not have the job they had before. Businesses are facing unprecedented pressure.

We’ve withstood the onslaught of COVID-19 in a remarkable expression of solidarity, togetherness and shared trust in public institutions. We’ve worked night and day to protect and support each other.

Finally, today, on this week, when shutters lifted, doors opened and workers returned, we can turn towards the brightness of the future.

This department, born in the most terrible of times, can light a pathway to that future.

And, with COVID-19, we are getting the clearest example of where research, education and human capability is paying off.

For now and into the future, education is the most robust, transformative and lasting means to prepare and reorient in response to changes we have experienced and the changes coming. Furthermore, and quite crucially, a lack of access to education can mean that opportunities for the development of talent are being lost to individuals, society and the economy.

In order to be resilient, our businesses need a diverse and highly trained workforce to compete in a constantly changing global economy. And harnessing human capability and attaining high productivity in the ways I have outlined here will determine whether we meet this challenge together.

The last year has been critical for the health of the nation. The next 24 months will be critical for the economy. We must work together to put innovation and lifelong learning at the centre of our national economic recovery plan. We have a compelling, evidenced-based, argument for how investment in research and education is an essential part of economic recovery and renewal.

And if we succeed? The prize is great. No one gets left behind, our businesses flourish, and Ireland is a prosperous nation with economic growth, good public services and a high quality of life. On top of all that, we contribute on a global stage to help solve the world’s greatest challenges.

As we begin to yearn for all the things we have missed, let me be clear from a public policy point we are not going back to normal. We are going to create something better.

Thank you for inviting me here today and I look forward to your questions and comments.