Employment & Recruitment Federation urges government to put €1.8bn training fund surplus into National AI Academy
The Employment and Recruitment Federation (ERF) has called on Government to use Budget 2027 to fund a National Artificial Intelligence Academy and a major expansion of workforce training, rather than let an surplus estimated at €1.8 billion in the National Training Fund go unspent.
The National Training Fund is built from a levy on employers. The ERF’s Budget 2027 submission, Rewarding Work and Growing Talent, notes that the fund’s surplus reached around €1.8 billion at the end of 2024 and is forecast to grow by more than €200 million a year out to 2030. The Federation argued that money raised from employers for skills should be spent on skills and is calling for National Training Fund spending to be lifted out of the general expenditure rules so it can be deployed at the scale the labour market now requires.
At the centre of the submission is a call to fund a National AI Academy, delivered in partnership across enterprise, higher education, and the State. The ERF pointed to the pace of change already visible in the technology sector, where rounds of job cuts have coincided with an estimated loss of about 20,000 ICT roles in Ireland over the past year.
The EU has established an AI Skills Academy under its AI Continent Action Plan, and AI literacy obligations under the EU AI Act have applied to employers since February 2025, with rules for AI used in employment due to apply from December 2027.
Brendan McGinty, who led the ERF’s Budget 2027 submission, said: “There is €1.8 billion raised from employers sitting in the National Training Fund, and it is growing by more than €200 million a year, while companies tell us every week that they cannot find the skills they need. That is money raised for skills that is not being spent on skills. With Ireland about to chair the EU’s skills and competitiveness agenda, Budget 2027 should put it to work and build the National AI Academy this economy needs.”
Alongside the Academy, the submission seeks a Workforce Development Support Package of up to €140 million from the National Training Fund surplus, an employer PRSI credit for training costs, a doubling of micro credential places, and an expansion of apprenticeships. On the cost of employment, the ERF repeats the wider case for rewarding work: raising the standard rate income tax threshold towards €50,000 over three years, holding the combined tax rate on workers below 50%, and deferring the scheduled PRSI increases until inflation settles.
Representing more than 200 member companies throughout Ireland, the ERF develops and promotes education and training and provides information and advice on the sector, as well as member services such as vetting and lobbying on policy and industry issues affecting the labour market.
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