Skillnet Ireland has reported very high levels of engagement with its skills and training initiatives. According to its annual report from 2021, companies co-invested a total of €22.5m in upskilling programmes for staff despite the challenges of the pandemic.

The agency reported a record level of investment in talent development, which increased by 17pc to more than €60 million. Contributions from businesses represented 37pc of this total investment.

Skillnet Ireland supported 22,500 companies and 86,500 individuals through its training programmes last year. Employers and employees alike were particularly eager to develop their industry knowledge in areas such as digitalisation and sustainability.

Of the 22,500 businesses supported, 93pc were SMEs, while more than 1,100 were FDI companies.

Skillnet Ireland increased the output of its training programmes by 8pc, delivering 9,853 programmes. These spanned industry and professional certified courses, specialised upskilling, new industry and academia collaborations and innovation and research-based projects.

Growth in Skillnet Ireland’s national initiatives was also robust. Its Climate Ready programme supported more than 1,600 businesses and 3,200 people in its first year. Climate Ready supports businesses and their staff in understanding and preparing for the climate crisis.

The MentorsWork scheme, which supports small business owners through expert mentoring and skills development, grew by 35pc last year.

Also last year, Skillnet Ireland invested €1m to bring its Transform digital skills programme to a wider network of businesses across Ireland.

According to Paul Healy, chief executive, Skillnet Ireland, “Talent has and will continue to play a fundamental role in Ireland’s economic development, and our goal is to increase the number of businesses supported by Skillnet Ireland to 30,000 annually by 2025.”

He added that the fact companies invested so much in talent development demonstrated “real belief from the business community in the value and impact of skills development.”

Brendan McGinty, chair, Skillnet Ireland, said the business support agency was pleased to have been able to increase its support to businesses and workers over the past year “both in helping them navigate the immediate challenges a second year of the pandemic brought about and in preparing them for the future with initiatives focused on boosting the digital agenda, the SME sector, and climate action.”

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