As part of Budget 2025, the Government announced a National Training Fund (NTF) investment package worth €1.485 billion over the six years from 2025 to 2030. The package includes €650 million in core funding for higher education, €600 million investment in research, education and training infrastructure in the further and higher education sectors, and €235 million for skills development including apprenticeships.
The investment comes from a €1.5 billion surplus which has built up in the NTF over several years, explains Mark Skinner, manager of the Ibec-promoted Food Drink Ireland (FDI) Skillnet Network.
“Ibec has been lobbying hard for the last number of years for the release of the surplus,” he adds. “The announcement of the investment package was very welcome.”
Under the legislation governing the NTF, programmes funded by it must support the objectives of raising the skills of those in employment, providing training to people who wish to take up employment, and providing information about existing future skills requirements in the economy.
“Employers contribute 1 per cent of their employees’ reckonable earnings through the PRSI system to the NTF,” Skinner points out. “The surplus has built up since 2017 partly due to the increase in the employer contribution from 0.7 per cent to 1 per cent and partly as a result of employment growth and higher pay levels. Even with the new investment programme, it is estimated that the surplus will reach nearly €3 billion by 2030.”
He also welcomes the individual elements of the investment. “Closing the funding gap in higher education is very important,” he says. “Industry will benefit from graduates coming out of HEA [Higher Education Authority] programmes. Ibec is asking for continued collaboration between universities and industry to make sure the money is spent properly.”
In addition, Ibec has called for the employer contribution to higher education to be used to support industry-academia collaboration and for programme content and delivery to be aligned closely with existing and future industry skills needs.
The skills investment package is particularly welcome. It includes €8 million for an SME Incentivisation Scheme to assist them with the cost of training, €5 million for Solas and Skillnet to deliver green and construction skills programmes, and €4 million for Solas, Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices to develop micro-qualifications for SMEs.
Ibec’s commitment to skills development goes beyond lobbying and influencing. “Ibec promotes 11 Skillnet business networks across areas like food and drink, life sciences, technology, and financial services to name but a few,” says Skinner. “We also have eight industry-led apprenticeship programmes across key areas including manufacturing, engineering, retail and financial services. FDI is developing a new apprenticeship in food operations management.
“It’s all about delivering for industry,” he continues. “We take an industry-led approach to skills development and all of our Skillnets have been developed with the support of industry representatives and key stakeholders within Ibec. Everything is aligned to the issues affecting individual industries and how the provision of skills and talent and appropriate learning opportunities can help to address them. Our Skillnet Business Networks provide everything from short courses on workplace skills to masters programmes.”
He points to a number of the programmes offered by the FDI Skillnet. “The changing regulatory landscape is a particular issue for the food and drink industry. We have developed a Masters in Food and Drink Regulation to help people develop solutions specific to their businesses. Sustainable food packaging is another area where there is increased focus at present. There is a requirement on all firms in the industry to find more sustainable solutions and we developed a Certificate in Sustainable Food Packaging in response to that.”
FDI Skillnet also works at the Spade Enterprise Centre in Dublin to support individuals and start-up companies to commercialise food product ideas. The centre’s shared kitchen provides a culinary production facility that can accommodate several companies simultaneously and is dedicated to growing early-stage wholesale, retail and catering businesses. “The centre rents out space to people to help them scale up and get their idea off the ground,” he says.
“We have also completed a report on digitalisation in food manufacturing,” he adds. “That is leading to new programmes in relation to digitalisation strategies.”
Looking to the future he says there needs to be a continued and increased level of industry involvement in policy decisions concerning skills development. “There are so many trends impacting the workforce at present and new skills in technologies like AI [artificial intelligence] and in areas like sustainability are emerging all the time. Talent strategy has to be right up there with business strategy. Companies should engage with the skillnets and the higher education system and so on to ensure they have a future-fit workforce.”