Skillnets, the Government-funded agency tasked with addressing businesses’ skills shortages, provided almost 50,000 training days to unemployed jobseekers and helped reskill thousands of company employees last year, according to a newly published independent evaluation.

A ringing endorsement of the State-funded training body Skillnets has been made by companies using the service, with 97% saying it has helped fill skill gaps and 87% acknowledging its contribution to a rise in productivity.

The ISA Software Skillnet and VMware unveiled a Cloud Careers programme to retrain unemployed people for jobs in the IT sector at a ceremony yesterday at VMWare’s premises in Ballincollig, Co Cork.

DESPITE the recent Bord Snip Nua/McCarthyReport proposals which include a cut to its funding, the state-financed training body Skillnets showed its worth by investing more than €36 million in developing workplace skills in 56,000 workers last year, according to its annual report just published.

MOVES by Tánaiste Mary Coughlan to slash e10 million from a retraining scheme were branded disastrous by opposition parties last night.