Developing relevant skills and using them effectively is crucial for Ireland’s ability to thrive in an increasingly interconnected and rapidly changing world.

This OECD Skills Strategy Assessment and Recommendations project reviews how Ireland’s existing skills strategy – the National Skills Strategy (NSS) 2025 – might need to be adapted to ensure that it is still fit for purpose. Through desk research and active engagement with government and stakeholder representatives in multiple workshops, group discussions and bilateral meetings, the project identifies priority areas for action and provides tailored recommendations for improving Ireland’s skills outcomes. This report is not positioned as an implementation plan. Further work is required by Irish stakeholders to sequence and prioritise investments in order to move forward on the areas for action identified.

This chapter describes the key insights and policy recommendations of the OECD Skills Strategy Assessment and Recommendations project for Ireland. It applies the OECD Skills Strategy Framework to assess the performance of Ireland’s skills system, describes the policy context, and introduces the four priority areas for action, including key findings and high‑level strategic recommendations for each. Subsequent chapters describe each priority area in greater detail, highlighting the opportunities for improvement, good practices and recommendations for improvement.

In the context of rapidly changing skills needs, it will be essential for Ireland to develop a skills system that helps to secure a balance between skills demand and supply. Ireland needs to ensure that its skills system is flexible and responsive to address skills shortages and mismatches as they emerge and plan for future skills needs. A diversified supply of skills is also needed to build adaptability and resilience in the face of societal and economic change. This chapter provides an assessment of current and projected skills imbalances and presents three opportunities to better secure a balance in skills: 1) improving information and guidance for individuals on learning and career pathways; 2) strengthening learning and career pathways over the life course; and 3) making education and training provision more responsive to changing skills needs.

Across countries, there is a growing need for people to upskill and reskill regularly over their life course so they can adapt to developments in the labour market and society. Lifelong learning results in a wide range of benefits, including higher wages for individuals, higher productivity for firms and higher levels of social trust. This chapter explains the importance of fostering greater participation in lifelong learning in and outside the workplace in Ireland and provides an overview of current practices and performance. It then explores three opportunities to improve participation in lifelong learning: 1) strengthening incentives to participate in lifelong learning for individuals; 2) strengthening incentives to participate in lifelong learning for employers; and 3) making lifelong learning more flexible and accessible.

Optimally using people’s skills is associated with higher wages and job satisfaction for employees, high rates of productivity and innovation within firms, and stronger economic growth. Better leveraging skills is therefore central to supporting Ireland’s economic renewal, promoting resilience to global megatrends and ensuring the country can achieve its aims of digital leadership and a just transition. This chapter assesses how Ireland leverages skills to drive innovation and strengthen firm performance and presents three opportunities to improve performance by: 1) better utilising Ireland’s research talent and public research and innovation system to drive innovation within firms; 2) promoting the continuous improvement of leadership and management skills within enterprises; and 3) incentivising and enabling enterprises to make better use of the skills of their workers through innovative workplace solutions.

Well-functioning skills governance arrangements are the bedrock of a “joined-up” skills ecosystem, where skills policy design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation are impactful, mutually reinforcing and rooted in an extensive and robust evidence base. The complexity associated with skills policies, compounded by the uncertain and rapidly changing environment in which skills policy decisions are made, makes strong skills governance essential. This chapter explores three opportunities for strengthening skills governance to build a joined-up skills ecosystem in Ireland: 1) promoting a whole-of-government and strategic approach to skills policy; 2) supporting effective engagement with stakeholders throughout the skills policy cycle; and 3) strengthening the collection, exchange and use of skills information.