Updates from Ibec CEO Danny McCoy

CEO Update: Taking up the reins of the EU Presidency and building an AI-native workforce

Friday, 03 July

The latest CEO Update to Ibec membership from Danny McCoy

This week, Ireland formally assumed the EU Presidency under the banner of "Ní neart go cur le chéile" – strength through unity. For an EU bloc navigating war, security threats, and competitiveness shortcomings, this theme is highly apt. While the EU Presidency can sometimes feel abstract, this term arrives at a critical juncture for both Europe and Ireland.

Over the next six months, Irish officials will steer negotiations on a mountain of files. This includes ambitious timelines to finalise agreements on the "EU Inc" corporate framework, the Industrial Accelerator Act, the grids package, the market integration and supervision package, and the revised securitisation framework.

Many agenda items progressed during the Irish term will directly impact our daily lives, filtering down through critical trade discussions, a renewed focus on employment, and a vital reinforcement of the structural connection between Dublin and fellow EU member states.

We have detailed insights contained in our latest edition of Ibec Europe & Global Focus while the latest episode of the Ibec Responds podcast provides further analysis of what this presidency means for you and your organisation. Finally, we have a whole suite of resources for business on our dedicated campaign website.

A core tenet of the EU Presidency will be a renewed focus on championing key enablers of competitiveness, such as promoting upskilling and training. To achieve this, we will need to see a renewed focus that prioritises skills development and lifelong learning, rather than additional employer obligations. As such, the publication of our latest report could not be timelier, as it captures that Ireland risks failing to capitalise on a multi-billion-euro AI opportunity without a deliberate shift to lifelong reskilling.

In the Irish business landscape, AI adoption could add up to €148 billion to Ireland’s GDP by 2038. As the IDA half year figures showed this week, international investment continues to remain strong despite global uncertainty, but our ability to capitalise on the AI opportunity will be critical to future growth. Ibec’s new study, Skills for All, Skills for Life, which is supported by Accenture, highlights that a failure to proactively and adequately reskill the workforce to support this transition puts a massive portion of the country's competitive advantage at risk and hinders our ability to benefit from the opportunities being created by AI.

As we have been advocating for some time, we cannot be passive or hold back our intent or resources in supporting the transition required to meet the opportunities and challenges that will come with it. As we have been saying publicly for some time, the National Training Fund, that currently holds a €2 billion surplus, must now be strategically deployed to incentivise lifelong learning and business-led upskilling.

While Ireland may not necessarily be a global hub for AI development, we can equip our workforce to be globally renowned as "AI natives," which will provide a real competitive advantage for us. By resolving the funding cycles of the National Training Fund (NTF) and establishing an integrated AI reskilling plan, we can ensure that Ireland becomes a net beneficiary of these new opportunities.

You can read the report in full here, including our suite of policy recommendations.

Regards,

Danny McCoy,

CEO Ibec