Speaking after a presentation to the Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Social Protection and Education by the organisation, Fast Track into Information Technology (FIT), I have stated that their innovative approach has the potential to prepare and up skill 25,000 unemployed people for IT positions by 2015.
I recently had the pleasure of meeting some of the board members of FIT in my own constituency and I was greatly impressed by their ability to give marketable IT skills to the unemployed.
Their approach is to select persons on aptitude rather than educational qualifications and this is particularly relevant for jobseekers and those most at risk of long term unemployment.
As of October, there were 179,773 people unemployed for one year of more. Of these, approximately 90,000 have a primary education or no formal education. Given the imperative of tackling unemployment, it is vital to support and promote initiatives that have shown to work.
Of those trained by FIT over the past decade, 74% have gone onto employment. This success is achieved through working closely with multinationals like Microsoft, IBM and Intel to constantly evaluate and tailor their courses to meet industry needs. This flexibility and responsiveness has seen them develop courses in areas such as cloud computing, smart grid technology and programming.
FIT then delivers their courses by working with SOLAS, the VEC's and local development agencies. This year alone, over 3,500 job seekers will receive training in courses designed by them and a further 2,000 will receive mentoring supports.
At today's committee, FIT outlined their vision of an expanded training and up skilling programme, to place 25,000 jobseekers into employment by 2015. I intend to follow up today's meeting with both Minister Burton and Minister Quinn, to advance this aim and to get these people back to work.
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