I welcome this Bill and thank the Minister for bringing it forward. I also welcome his commitments on this. The NTF was established by the National Training Fund Act 2000 as a dedicated fund to support the training of those in employment and those seeking employment. Its aim is to support the development of a highly skilled and adaptable workforce, ensuring that Ireland remains competitive in a global economy. The Act also provides for the funding of the provision of information on existing and likely future skills requirements of the economy. On paper, this is exactly what is needed for the country. However, between 2014 and 2023, the funding priorities of the NTF significantly and drastically changed. To put this in perspective, in 2014, more than 82% of the National Training Fund was spent on training programmes for employment, compared with only 55% in 2024. The funding deficit in the university sector was first identified in the Cassells report back in 2016 and was the result of the austerity measures following the economic crash, when funding to third level institutions was cut. To make up the funding shortfall, a student contribution was introduced. Austerity measures are long over but the promise that these cuts to the third level sector would be reversed has not been fulfilled. The Minister said that this package will help to deliver the education, training and research needed to keep pace with a fast-changing world. It will support thousands of learners each year across further and higher education institutions, apprenticeships and new upskilling pathways, producing skilled graduates who are ready to contribute to a dynamic and competitive economy. However, we are still seeing the knock-on effect of this funding deficit, with cuts to ETB funding. These cuts hurt ordinary communities. I give the example of a local training initiative, LTI, in Cashel, which was such a valuable part of the community in which it operated. Fourteen early-school leavers aged 16 embarked on a successful LTI programme to provide them with a level 4 major award and the option of progressing to level 5 this year, which would have given them the equivalent of an honours leaving certificate. Instead, this LTI course was cancelled, leaving learners devastated and their educators totally stranded and made redundant, with no supports to fall back on. This was disgraceful. In communities up and down the country, opportunities are being provided through LTIs, like the one in Cashel, for people to upskill, further their education and build a career path. We need to place way more value on the education and training boards, which badly need the Government to expedite their commitment to further NTF funding for the further and higher education sector. It is unacceptable that member ETBs continue to face funding constraints in infrastructure and learner access when there is funding there that could improve these. Our skills and labour market should also be at the heart of the NTF. In July 2025, the National Skills Council made its first tranche of recommendations to the Government, which included the establishment of a national skills observatory to create a unified repository of information on skills and the labour market, and targeting leveraging of the NTF. There are also many repercussions from the perspective of the economy. The business lobby group ISME raised concerns that employers will lose faith in a 1% levy imposed on them being channelled to a purpose other than intended by law. The group has also called for Government consultation with the SME sector on any such plans. It is already predicted that an additional €3 billion of unspent employer contributions could accumulate by 2030 if a permanent solution to unlocking the training fund is not found. This is an extremely worrying trend for industry when eight in ten employers in Ireland are experiencing a skills gap, and it is undermining the competitiveness and productivity of Irish workers. In this case, the unlocking of this fund will be welcome. Another worrying issue relating to the NTF is around the status of lreland’s national research innovation. Last June, The Irish Times published an article reporting that leading Irish business lobby group IBEC had described Ireland’s national research and innovation infrastructure as becoming "obsolete and out of date". We are way behind in Ireland’s public investment, with just 13% of the €8 billion national spend on research and innovation. According to IBEC, the State spends €199 per person on directly funding research and innovation, compared with the EU average of €274. To improve national research capability, IBEC has also called for the use of the National Training Fund to attract skilled research talent, as well as investing in developing the domestic workforce, by “expanding and subsidising pathways for skills development". My party colleague Deputy Mairéad Farrell previously drafted an amendment to Bill to allow the NTF to support the sector’s research infrastructure but it was ruled out of order. Furthermore, within the tertiary system, the Government's failure to act has seen some universities under considerable pressure around recruitment, with some posting financial deficits. Deputy Farrell stated in 2024 that the Government had not provided enough funding to the sector to cover the cost of the wage increases that had arisen from the public service pay deal and that a supplementary budget to deal with this issue was needed. Here we are two years later and we are no further along. Clearly, this is due to the lack of dedication for the fund to help the sector. We in Sinn Féin support this Bill but work is needed to tease out what exactly the Minister intends to use unlocked NTF moneys for. We will determine after Second Stage whether further amendments are necessary. We need to make sure the funds go to where they are needed but also to what the fund is intended for, and to ensure the fund will have enough money for upskilling. The Minister mentioned repair and maintenance, but the gov.ie website states it is intended to use capital payments from the National Training Fund for retrofitting and decarbonisation. Does that really fall under the remit of what this fund is for? At the end of the day, successive Governments have created funding deficits in the university sector, which could threaten the viability of lrish universities. Therefore, while we are supportive of measures unlocking NTF funding, we need to be alert to its spending. We do not want to see it being used for uses for which it is not intended, thereby leaving the fund unable to be used for its intended use.

Sentiment score: 0.13