Major skills boost needed to save local economy

Around 20,000 adults will need to be 'upskilled' in Westmeath if the county is to survive the economic recession, a representative of Westmeath VEC told members of Westmeath County Council this week.Furthermore, it has emerged that even before the recent onset of the recession, just over 40 percent of Westmeath was described as being 'marginally below average' in terms of affluence, with a handful of areas in the county described as 'disadvantaged'.The revelations - the dire backdrop to which was formed by the recent Budget education cuts - were presented to members of Westmeath County Council by Ms. Rina McKenna, Adult Education Officer at Westmeath VEC, at the local authority"s monthly meeting on Monday last.Quoting the Leitch skills report published in the UK recently, Ms. McKenna said that skills is the 'most important lever within our control to create wealth and to reduce social deprivation'. She added that to remain competitive, Westmeath faces a major challenge to upskill over 20,000 adults - just over one quarter of the county"s population - all of whom left school with a Junior Certificate qualification, or less.In 2006, a report issued by the Expert Group in Future Skills Needs, entitled "Towards a National Skills Strategy", found that Ireland will 'lag behind comparator countries in terms of the percentage of the labour force with lower secondary education or below'.The group also reached the conclusion that supply will not meet demands for skills in 2020, with shortages of people educated at third and fourth level, and 'an oversupply of lower skills levels'.It was also found that there would be 'increased demand' in public administration, education and health, finance and business service, and other market services, while decreased demand would follow in agriculture, manufacturing and other industries.Nationwide, Ms. McKenna said that an additional 500,000 people would need to be upskilled nationwide, with 4 percent of this skills bill (20,000) to be footed by Westmeath.She said that a total of 18.4 percent of people in Westmeath are categorised as semi-skilled and unskilled workers, reflecting the national average; but that in certain sectors, such as Athlone West Urban (28.7 percent) and Castlepollard (27.7 percent), this category of worker made up a significant portion of the local population.These statistics - which were followed by Raharney (26.6 percent) and Mullingar North Urban (26.2 percent) - were in stark contrast to the Belvedere area of Mullingar (6 percent), other areas of rural Mullingar, and rural areas of Athlone, such as Glassan (11.5 percent) and Moydrum (10.5 percent), which are home to higher levels of skilled workers.A reading of affluence and deprivation in Westmeath showed that only a certain number of areas - Belvedere (Mullingar), Auburn and Glassan (Athlone) - could be described as 'affluent', while areas centred on towns and villages such as Moate, Kinnegad, Clonmellon, Killucan-Rathwire and Athlone and the greater portion of Mullingar were described as 'marginally above average, reflecting the county average.However, the 2006 survey found that Multyfarnham, Delvin, Collinstown, Castlepollard, Tyrrellspass, Rochfortbridge, Kilbeggan, Ballymore were 'marginally below average' in terms of affluence, with the Forgney and Moyvore areas, Ballynacargy (Kilbixy), Mullingar North Urban, Templepatrick and Athlone West Urban as 'disadvantaged'.No areas in the county were categorised either as 'extremely/very affluent' or 'extremely/very disadvantaged'.In another startling dimension to the survey, it was found that 43.3 percent of households in Westmeath have no access to a personal computer, with the same areas, as well as Kilbeggan, over the 50 percent mark.Ms. McKenna said that the 2006 Census demonstrated that almost 10,000 people had either no formal education or primary education only, while another 10,950 completed their Junior Certificate before deciding to leave school.A detailed map accompanying the survey showed that in areas such as Castlepollard, Ballynacargy, Athlone West Urban, Multyfarnham and Ballymore, over 50 percent being educated as far as Junior Cert level before leaving school, with a quarter of inhabitants in most of these areas having no formal secondary level education.In contrast, in areas such as Moydrum (40.4 percent), Belvedere (35.7 percent), Mullingar Rural (37.4 percent), high instances of third level education were demonstrated. The end result of these figures showed that a final figure of 41.6 percent of people in Westmeath have a Junior Cert qualification or lower, slightly above the national trend.Ms. McKenna said that although Westmeath VEC currently caters for nearly 6,400 people on Adult Education programmes in the county, that number of 'upskilling' candidates will need to increase to 20,000 if Westmeath is to remain competitive.Funding "tragedy"'Much of what"s in this report is sad, because it is based on funding, and it"s a great tragedy that much of that funding has been cut,' Cllr. Dan McCarthy (Labour), who doubles as chairman of Westmeath VEC, told the meeting prior to Ms. McKenna"s presentation. 'We haven"t even worked out the final amount that Westmeath VEC will lose.'If the necessary number of people are to be upskilled, then the VEC will need all the funding it can get; but the figures don"t encourage optimism.Ms. McKenna said that as a result of Budget 2009, VECs are being hit with a general 4 percent pay cut, 5 percent non-pay, and a 10 percent cut in places for Traveller Education Centres.'Since this report was prepared, things haven"t improved. In fact, they"ve become pretty frightening,' remarked Cllr. Mick Dollard (Labour), who also functions as chair of the Westmeath Adult Education Board. 'There have been major job losses in the past year, and I think that state agencies in the county need to be more proactive.'This is not a political issue. It is a matter for the three parties in the Council to come together to communicate with Minister [for Education] Batt O"Keeffe with regard to securing funding.'Since October 2007, over 3,300 more people have signed on to the Live Register in Westmeath, and the trend shows no sign of abating.Ms. McKenna said that as well as undergoing a thorough programme of upskilling - subject to funding - employees must show a willingess to learn and move with the times. Similarly, co-operation amongst state agencies, the allocation of adequate Government resources, and support from educators and employers were described as key requirements.