Ms Marie Armstrong:

One of the points made in the paper published yesterday was about trying to attract more foreign students into Ireland, which is a good idea. We are used to the Irish diaspora making connections but it can happen in reverse. If we take people into Ireland and send them back out, they may become our friends. That is a good idea but it means we need to invest in our universities. As I have relatives who live in China, I know that when they think about which country they will go to, they look at university rankings, rightly or wrongly. To attract foreign students we need to consider our university ratings.

It is very important that we invest in them. The skills challenge, the war for talent or whatever phrase one likes to put on it is always an issue that comes up. Some 37% of our members are concerned about that. The easiest thing is to upskill our own students as well as taking in international students. We would strongly favour increased investment and increased language skills from four or five in our primary schools right through to university.