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The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) carried out a detailed program of research in response to a request from the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment (DETE) for research to underpin the development of a National Skills Strategy for Ireland to develop over the period to 2020. The objectives of this research were to: identify the skills required for Ireland to make the transition to a competitive, innovation-driven, knowledge-based, participative and inclusive economy by 2020; provide projections of the labour force's skills profile required to make the transition to such an economy and compare this profile to that which current projected output will yield; and provide training and education objectives where gaps and deficiencies are evident between the desirable situation and the likely supply. The results of this research are presented in this document. It proposes a vision of Ireland in 2020 in which 'a well-educated and highly skilled population contributes optimally to a competitive, innovation-driven, knowledge-based, participative and inclusive economy'. For Ireland to realise this vision by 2020, 48 per cent of the labour force should have qualifications at National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) levels six to 10; 45 per cent should have qualifications at NFQ levels four and five; and the remaining seven per cent will have qualifications at NFQ levels one to three but should aspire to achieve skills at higher levels. The contents are: Executive summary; Introduction; Changing skills needs; Investment in education and training; Supply and demand for skills to 2020; Conclusions and recommendations. Included as appendices are: Bibliography; Membership of sub-group; Membership of reference group; List of references received; List of background papers; Membership of Expert Group on Future Skills Needs; List of acronyms; National Framework of Qualifications; Key recommendations from other EGFSN reports.