Thinking of a changing world, many of us this afternoon are speaking about AI, and rightly so. However, in Ireland the changing world also means an increase in population and an ageing population. Thankfully, we have the National Training Fund and €650 million of that is for healthcare training. In my hometown, Maynooth, for example, there is now a school of nursing helping to tackle the issue of not having enough healthcare staff across the country and particularly in the eastern region. That is extremely welcome. On artificial intelligence, many colleagues have spoken about the initiatives taken by the Government thus far, particularly by the Minister, Deputy James Lawless, my constituency colleague, including the launch of aiready.ie two weeks ago and how that is improving and helping people. Some 45 micro qualifications are ready. Springboard courses and Skillnet courses are available. These are all courses happening, particularly for people looking to learn more about AI. Where we fall short is in workers in situ. I spoke about this as a Topical Issue matter this morning. The Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, was here when I spoke about it. I have developed a policy and programme and a pilot for that programme under which people would be retrained and reskilled within their roles if their jobs are at risk, if there is a risk of that job being removed. That ensures we protect workers in the jobs they are in, rather than them losing them. It is not just a higher education and skills issue. It is a Department of enterprise issue and a Department of Social Protection issue because it goes across all of society. Most important, it is a workers' issue, to protect workers in society. Deputy Malcolm Byrne spoke about the various historical jobs that no longer exist. Some administrative jobs will no longer exist but people who work in administration in a law firm, for example, could manage the AI software or become a data analyst. It is reskilling in the job and the State has, and should have, a role to contribute, but so should employers. That is critical for the future of workers.

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