National Training Fund (Amendment) Bill 2025: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-11
============================================================

Paul Daly (FF), Agricultural Panel

I would not like to think that Limerick would become top heavy in that particular institute in any future spending. We will differ on that one and we will fight our own parochial arguments on it.
As the Minister will be aware, I would be from a practical background. The examples I will give the Minister are where I see it is really necessary. While I hear what Senator Tully is saying about buying land, etc., I will use the example I have used on numerous occasions when we were dealing with apprenticeships in the higher education committee, and that is 3D printing. 3D printing and modular homes are the future of house building. These are massive machines and equipment and you do not train on them. I remember being down in Senator Kennelly's country years ago when I was on the Education and Training Boards Ireland, ETBI, in Tralee, where they were working on wind turbines, but they were working outside. I know wind turbines are outside, but for training purposes, you are not talking here about building Portakabins. You are talking about building big buildings to facilitate some of these machines. The expenditure on the machine is one thing, but you need the land and you need the housing facility. It is vitally important. When the need is there and the money is sitting almost dormant, it is a no-brainer.
In his opening statement, the Minister explained how it works at present where the Minister for Finance controls the account and the Minister present is in control of where it is spent. For our own information, if these amendments are made, will that operate similarly going forward? Does the Minister have to go the Minister for Finance or does it give the Department that little bit more leeway in drawing down the money without having to ask permission on every occasion?
As I say, we have money at present and we have full employment so now is the time to make the capital investment. I take what Senator Tully said about the drop in training from 2014. In 2014, we were coming out of a recession. We were training people, upskilling them and trying to get them different jobs, and moving them from a job they had previously into new positions. We are lucky enough at present to be at full employment. We need people to come into the country to fulfil a lot of jobs. While there is always a need for upskilling and training in the development of technology, etc., there is not the same need for skilling and training of people who are out there looking for a job or have to change job because circumstances have changed in their old job. That is the time, in my opinion, to make the capital investment so that if and when - I would hope never but it is all cyclical - the next time there is a need to reskill people for changes of career options because of a downturn, we will have the equipment and we will have the facilities. Now is the time to do that for the future.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-12-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:27+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-11