SOLAS Launches First Podcast on Future Skills Needs in Ireland

SOLAS/07.07.2025

SOLAS has launched The Future Skills Ireland podcast, which shares real-life stories and conversations about careers and essential skills, alongside discussions on Ireland’s future skills needs and national research. The aim of the podcast is to spark a national conversation on the importance of skills.

SOLAS works with further education and training (FET) sector partners to create a FET system that is inclusive, adaptive, and responsive to future trends such as AI, and meets the needs of learners, whilst addressing the demands of our dynamic and evolving society. We recognise that skills are key to how Ireland responds to societal and economic challenges and opportunities and Ireland is now embarking on innovative and creative approaches to identify future skills needs. This is vital if we are to make Ireland a place that supports lifelong learning, enables people to move careers, and builds the skilled workforce Ireland will need to ensure future success.

In this podcast series Shauna Dunlop, Director of Research, Future Skills Needs, Statistics and Risk in SOLAS explores the potential and impact of future skills in areas such as lifelong learning, guidance, construction and the future skills ambition for Ireland, including in FET.

Speaking about the podcast Shauna Dunlop said:

“I am delighted to launch the Future Skills Ireland podcast, a unique collaborative initiative, led by SOLAS. The podcast features real life stories, and careers from a range of guests highlighting the importance of skills throughout their journeys. The podcast also focuses on the national skills agenda, with important conversations on research, and how it can best be used.”

“The SOLAS Skills and Labour Market Research Unit have been supporting and driving the skills conversation in Ireland through insightful research, reports and information for two decades. Alongside the national skills ecosystem, we work as a collaborative to bring the research, the data and the information that matters on skills to everyone, let’s talk about it.”

Future Skills Ireland includes conversations from leaders and influencers providing a spotlight on the skills that have made a difference for them.

In these conversations we will explore some of the national skills research and data available to us while considering the impact and the potential of national skills on areas such as lifelong learning, guidance, construction, how we can enable everyone to reach their full potential and our skills ambition nationally, including in FET.

We are excited to bring inspiring insights and conversations from guests including:

  • Dr Kevin Marshall, the Chair of the National Skills Council and the Head of Future Skilling, Microsoft

  • Andrew Brownlee, the Chief Executive Officer of SOLAS

  • Bernadette Walsh, Guidance Leader and Lecturer in Maynooth University

  • Dr Michael Shevlin, Professor in Inclusive Education, Trinity College, Dublin, and Patron of the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities

  • Joan Morrisey, Construction Skills Manager in SOLAS and

  • Senator Lynn Ruane, with Mags Bryne, Future Skills Team in SOLAS.

These conversations will get to the heart of many of skills in Ireland and bring a new and refreshing perspective to both the challenges and the opportunities that we face.

Our hope is that they will inspire you, and spark a national conversation on skills which will inform, shape and support our national skills ambition into the future.

The podcasts are available here