Madam, - Congratulations to Eileen Battersby for her article on the innovative pilot project for the horse-racing industry in Kildare (Features, May 19th).
While racing has a glamorous image, the workers who sustain it are often poorly paid with limited job prospects.
The prevalence of low-paid workers in this sector is by no means unique. Figures show that 18 per cent of school leavers each year (around 12,000 young people) have not completed the senior cycle. Thus there are well over 100,000 such people aged under 30 in Ireland. Many have difficulties with literacy and numeracy skills.
In a buoyant economy, most find jobs and enter employment. However, ESRI data shows that this employment tends to be poorly paid and in low-skill sectors. Most have little chance of career progression. Yet once these young people take up employment, most receive minimal or no further education and training.
This matters for two reasons. Firstly, as Ireland's labour costs rise, the focus of industrial policy has shifted to the development of a "knowledge economy" based on a skilled workforce. Low-skilled workers would be largely excluded from such an economy.
Secondly, in the event of an economic downturn, low-skilled workers are vulnerable to job losses and will find it hard to regain employment. One scenario is that the "displacement" of Irish workers by migrants, much discussed in recent months, could occur on a large scale among this group of workers.
The Kildare project is one of nine projects under the Learning@Work programme co-ordinated by the Dublin Employment Pact. These pilot new ideas to promote learning and training for low-skilled workers.
Despite some efforts by Fás and the Department of Education and Science, there is as yet no systematic programme doing this on a national level. Innovative policy responses are required, as is greater engagement from employer bodies and trade unions.
This will help us to avoid future economic and social problems and make the concept of lifelong learning a reality. - Yours, etc,
FINBAR McDONNELL,
Evaluator,
Learning@Work Programme,
Hibernian Consulting,
Herbert Street,
Dublin 2.