Interview with Deirdre McDonnell, CEO, SOLAS, Ireland

18 Oct Interview with Deirdre McDonnell, CEO, SOLAS, Ireland

Further education and training (FET) has become a critical pillar of Ireland’s skills and workforce development agenda. In December, the government amended the National Training Fund Act, unlocking a €1.5 billion funding package to support higher education, skills development and training initiatives. How important is further education in meeting the evolving needs of Irish industry and how does Ireland stand out compared to other European countries in its approach to skills development?

The further education and training sector is central to Ireland’s skills development infrastructure. The government has been very supportive of FET. In recent years, more than €1 billion has been invested by the government in the sector annually from both exchequer funding and the national training fund. A key milestone for the development of the FET sector in Ireland was the establishment of the Department of Further and Higher Education in 2020. This put a real focus on further and higher education and positioned the tertiary system as a joint engine for the economy.

We have significant capital allocation over the next five years and through the FET major capital program and the National Development Plan we will be developing modern, flexible and climate conscious campuses across the country. The government has also provided us with an additional €100 million from the national training fund to upgrade our facilities and invest in specialist equipment for programs across the country over the next three years. This investment will help us to further improve program delivery and align it with the needs of enterprise.

Further education and training is now embedded across key government strategies. We are part of the housing strategy, the Climate Action Plan, the national digital strategy and the tertiary strategy I mentioned earlier. We really are part of the national infrastructure and have a clear strategy for the next five years that we are currently implementing.

We are involved in every part of the economy. We deliver skills opportunities for both companies and learners who want to engage. We have more than 200,000 learners engaging in the system in a range of ways every year, including full-time education and training courses, apprenticeships and traineeships. We offer full- and part-time courses as well as online and blended programs. People can access programs that suit their personal circumstances. We also offer short courses called micro-qualifications that give learners an accredited, recognized qualification tailored to employer needs. They’re short courses that people can access when they have time.

Established in 2013, SOLAS is Ireland’s state agency responsible for further education and training. In May, the organization launched its new five-year Creating Futures FET Strategy, setting out a roadmap to modernise and expand Ireland’s further education system. Can you introduce SOLAS to readers of the LA Times and explain its core mission and responsibilities?

SOLAS is Ireland’s state agency for further education and training. Our role is to help ensure that people across Ireland have access to the skills, knowledge and opportunities they need to succeed in a rapidly changing economy. We work in partnership with Ireland’s 16 Education and Training Boards, which deliver further education and training programs at local level, while SOLAS provides national leadership, investment, strategy and oversight.

Further education and training, or FET, serves a very broad audience. We support school leavers, jobseekers, people seeking new skills or career changes, employees looking to upskill and employers who need access to a skilled and adaptable workforce. A strong talent pipeline has long been one of Ireland’s competitive advantages and our mission is to help sustain and strengthen that advantage.

We have a new five year strategy called Creating Futures that has four key themes: equipping people with future-ready knowledge and skills; building inclusion; developing quality programs that are innovative and co-designed with industry; and working as collaboratively as we can to meet the changing needs of the economy. One of the key strengths of FET is how flexibly we deliver programs and respond to the needs of enterprise.

Inclusion is a particularly important focus. We are committed to supporting people who may face barriers to education, including through literacy initiatives and targeted supports that help learners reach their full potential. There is also a strong emphasis on quality and innovation. We want to strengthen the quality of our offering, including through investment in facilities and specialist equipment. We want to build on what we have while continuing to make sure quality is at the heart of what we do.

Alongside that, we continue to innovate our programs. We offer short courses such as micro-qualifications and online courses. Innovation is important because people have many time constraints; it can be very difficult for enterprises to release people for training. We try to deliver flexible programs that meet the needs of both learners and enterprises. The education-enterprise relationship is a big part of our strategy. Collaboration is also a huge feature of what we do. We work collaboratively to deliver good outcomes and work closely with higher education, Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and the Department of Social Protection. We are also connected internationally; we learn from and work with other systems.

SOLAS has established dedicated teams in labour market research and data analytics. How important is research in shaping the organisation’s priorities and what key findings are helping guide its strategy today?

We are very lucky to have a strong analytics team at SOLAS with a very strong reputation across the public and private sectors. The insights generated by our research team help ensure that decisions about skills investment, program development and workforce planning are based on evidence rather than assumptions. We have been given a mandate by the government to develop our analytics team into a National Skills Observatory, which we are currently setting up. The Observatory will build on the expertise we have to become a national centre for skills and labour market intelligence.

The team looks across the economy to identify emerging skills gaps, help us size these gaps and determine what level of qualifications are required. Their data is used across both higher education and further education to determine what courses are required. They are helping us with workforce planning at the national and regional levels. For example, we are currently monitoring how sustainability, construction and healthcare sectors are performing and what we need to do to respond to their needs.

SOLAS oversees a range of programs spanning apprenticeships, construction skills and adult literacy. Ireland’s apprenticeship system continues to grow rapidly, with registrations increasing by 78% between 2020 and 2025. The government is also expected to launch an action plan for its Apprenticeship Strategy 2030 later this year. What role have apprenticeships played in Ireland’s skills strategy and how is SOLAS encouraging greater participation from both citizens and employers through initiatives such as One More Job?

Apprenticeships are central to the skills strategy at this point and the apprenticeship system in Ireland is well regarded. We had nearly 10,000 new registrations in 2025 across 87 programs in various sectors of the economy. Apprenticeship has expanded to new sectors of the economy in recent years including areas like cyber security, robotics, biopharma, paramedical training, horticulture and healthcare. The total number of people doing an apprenticeship in Ireland has reached 32,000 for the first time. We are looking at developing more traineeships alongside apprenticeships.

One of the strengths of FET is that we recognize there is not a one-size-fits-all solution; we like to give people options. Going forward, we are focusing heavily on both apprenticeships and traineeships. We promote apprenticeships through national campaigns and employer grants as well as local promotion across education and training boards. We also partner with technological universities to deliver apprenticeship programs. Working with enterprise is a strong component of our apprenticeship programs and what makes them successful. We engage extensively with enterprises on how the system works.

We have a particular focus on craft apprenticeships that support the construction industry; apprenticeships are very important for this sector. Our craft apprenticeships are very focused on specific areas, including electrical and plumbing. We have over 25 programs that support construction and industry-related areas. A new plan is on its way, but there is already a heavy commitment to expand apprenticeships out to 2030 and increase registrations year on year. We also run Safe Pass and issue about 120,000 certificates for construction safety training every year. We have a range of safety-related programs that people need to engage with periodically and this forms a large part of safety in construction.

SOLAS also leads literacy programs through its Adult Literacy for Life strategy. How important is improving literacy rates in a rapidly changing society and what approaches are being taken to address this challenge nationwide?

It is critical that we help people improve their literacy skills including digital literacy so they can participate fully in society and the economy and this remains a key part of our strategy. One of the strengths of our approach is that we engage across the public sector. We work with partners across healthcare, education, social protection, local government, community development and family services to reach people at a local level. There are more than 1,000 local organizations involved across the country that are managed by 16 regional literacy coordinators. They work regionally with these organizations to support local literacy. It is crucial that these programs are delivered to communities across the country and that they are easy for people to access. We are also funding just over 400 projects through our innovation fund targeted at meeting literacy, numeracy, digital and financial literacy needs. There is a huge amount of activity happening across the country.

Digital skills are becoming increasingly important across every sector of Ireland’s economy. In April, SOLAS launched its AI Skills Platform to help both individuals and businesses prepare for a rapidly evolving workplace. How important is digital training in creating a future-ready workforce and what initiatives has SOLAS introduced to help workers adapt to new technologies?

AI will lead to job changes and FET is well placed to support employees and businesses to adapt to new technologies. We launched a new website, AIready.ie, in April. It provides free, non-technical modules for people who want to better understand what artificial intelligence (AI) is. It is tailored for older citizens, farmers, sole traders and people returning to the workforce who may not have used AI up until now. It’s a user-friendly, non-technical way of explaining what AI can do and how it works. Anybody can register. Online courses are 30-minute, bite-sized modules that people can access whenever it suits them. We are currently looking at how AIready.ie will be developed further.

More generally, we also have digital-focused and AI-focused courses on our online platform, eCollege. We provide micro-qualifications in AI and digital skills. AI and digital skills are being embedded across Ireland’s Education and Training Boards sector and are constantly under development. We also provide blended programs so people can learn online while attending classes to increase flexibility and help people fit learning into their busy lives. Additionally, the new equipment we are buying has AI features and reflects the modern technology used by enterprises today. We want to show people through our courses what they will be using in their working lives.

Building green skills has become a major priority for Ireland’s further education system. SOLAS recently finalised its Green Skills 2030 Implementation Plan, while its Skills and Labour Market Research Unit estimates that around 75% of jobs in Ireland now require some level of green skills.

Sustainability is a key part of delivery across many apprenticeships and other training programs and something we have focused on quite heavily. We have invested in several centers of excellence around zero-energy buildings. Sustainability skills are embedded across many of our provisions. SOLAS has developed our implementation plan in response to Ireland’s Green Skills 2030 Strategy through consultation with the education and training boards and other stakeholders. Under our Green Skills 2030 Implementation Plan, there are 24 strategic actions and 71 sectoral actions to develop transversal and technical green skills across different parts of the economy.

We are working with Ireland’s Education and Training Boards to embed these skills across a range of programs, including accounting and business, agriculture, art and design, biodiversity, construction, tourism and hospitality, engineering, sport and transport and logistics. Green skills are being embedded across everything we do, including the way we work ourselves. There is even a green focus in how we invest in our own infrastructure and estate.

You became CEO of SOLAS in April after more than 20 years in senior public sector roles, including serving as Assistant Secretary General at the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. You are now leading SOLAS through a period of major transformation for further education and training in Ireland. What are your top priorities as CEO of SOLAS and where would you like to see Ireland’s further education system over the next five to ten years?

Every CEO wants to make what they are responsible for stronger and better. A top personal priority is to strengthen the FET system during my term of office. I want to ensure that further education is recognized as an important national asset for learners, employers, communities and the economy. We are central to Ireland’s skills, inclusion and innovation infrastructure. How we develop alongside the implementation of our strategy is very important.

Every country is grappling with the challenges of technological change, demographics and the climate agenda. I feel that further education and training in Ireland is at the heart of how we respond to some of those challenges. A top priority is translating our strategy into real impact. We need to deliver on what we say we are going to do and measure our outcomes to strengthen the case for more investment in our sector over the coming years. While SOLAS plays a major role in funding the further education and training system, we are also the system architects. We need to make the system as agile as possible in responding to challenges to our economy and society. We need to strengthen our delivery and make provision as flexible as possible. We need stronger pathways for learners. My ultimate vision is to have the smartest and most inclusive further education and training system in the world in Ireland. We greatly admire what is happening in the United States and California. Everybody looks to the innovation we see there and we want to learn from that.