Skills, training and innovation are the foundation of Ireland's competitiveness and of every young person's opportunity in life. The investment of €1.5 billion in the National Training Fund, including €37 million to SOLAS for construction, manufacturing, healthcare and the green transition, is the single most consequential reskilling investment of this Government. Apprenticeship registrations in construction and related fields have grown by 57% since 2020. I see this on the ground in my constituency, in Dublin College, Loughlinstown, where craft apprentices from across south County Dublin and beyond do their phase 2 training. I raised in the House previously the phase 2 backlogs that existed post-Covid, and it is great to see progress in that area, with the numbers down from 5,300 in October 2023 to 1,800 or thereabouts today. This shows that the system is working, but, of course, there is more to be done. Further investment will expand the number of places and ensure that they are relevant in the context of a changing Ireland. The next big challenge is AI and the impact it is going to have on society and the labour market. AI will not replace skilled workers but it will reshape every job they do. As a result, we must prepare young people not only to use AI but also to develop it, interrogate it and think critically alongside it. Foundational digital literacy, AI literacy and critical analytical skills must be embedded as the core of every further and higher education programme, not merely bolted on. I welcome the establishment of AI Ready and the advent of the Springboard+ AI places. The harder task will be reforming the curriculum right across the system. The educators at Dublin College and those in Blackrock, Sallynoggin and, of course, Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, IADT, which the Minister visited recently, are up to that challenge. Speaking of recent visits, the Minister also visited the community training college on York Road in Dún Laoghaire, where educators such as Ms Catherine Bell and her colleagues do fantastic work upskilling students and preparing them for their next stage of life in the exciting decade ahead. I thank the Minister for his commitment to his role and for the visits he has made across the Dún Laoghaire area.

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