ABSTRACT
As with education, current manpower policy places greater than ever faith upon employers to adopt an approach to training and development which enhances their own involvement, both through active participation in publicly-sponsored schemes such as youth training (YT) and employment training (ET) and by providing opportunities for the voluntary training and development of their own staffs. The potential dimensions of manpower policy can be seen as a continuum extending from full intervention by the State through a centralised system of planned production to virtual State abstention dominated by reliance upon market autonomy to allocate both inputs and outcomes from the production process. The Manpower Services Commission, operating as a tripartite body since 1973 to coordinate national manpower policy-making, was abruptly wound up following union opposition to the ET programme, re-emerging subsequently as the Training Agency, but under direct control of the Department of Employment.
