Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for his response and compliment the steps taken to fast-track specific positions. I wish to flag an issue, namely, a comparison in the recently published Quarterly National Household Survey, which showed a decrease of 9,000 Irish nationals employed in the professional, scientific and technical sectors up to the end of the first quarter of 2009. During the same period, the number of employees from the EU 14 countries and third countries increased by 2,000 and 1,000, respectively. It would be worrying were this trend to continue, given the Government's planned significant investment in the smart economy and the Minister of State's comments last week to the effect that €100 million in EU research funding is entering Ireland per week.

The concern is that we are not producing graduates to a high enough standard to fulfil the roles being created. We must address this concern in terms of our education system and its focus on maths. The Minister for Education and Science has suggested a loan scheme for third level students. Elsewhere, this has been shown to force many people with technical skills out of their countries. Has the potential impact on retaining such skills been evaluated?

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