Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I agree 100% with the Deputy. The modern world is different. Some 50 or 60 years ago, emigration was a one way ticket but today it is a two-way ticket. Some 10% of the start-up companies from Enterprise Ireland involve people who have returned from abroad. Travel makes it a smaller world. We are an international global people and we must continue to be. We cannot make enough money in this market. Our companies must go overseas and establish a presence there to penetrate those markets and we must provide solutions to the global world, global business and global industry. This is in such areas as software, the life sciences, project management skills and so on. Many companies under the Enterprise Ireland umbrella are everywhere. We also need an influence overseas. The global Irish network is interesting because one begins to see where Irish people are located and the positions in which they find themselves, the influence they can wield and the advice and guidance they can provide to this and subsequent Governments. I recall the FÁS overseas graduate programme during the 1980s. It is remarkable to see how many of those people progressed in life and how they have helped the country as well as developing their own careers.

I refer to the question on numeracy and literacy education. We are very strong in the area of literacy at primary level. We place third in the OECD analysis of attainment in literacy. We do not place as high in numeracy or maths which is where we must focus more of our efforts, especially at second level in terms of how we structure our approach to maths in particular. However, there are a number of issues in Europe. The German education system is a regional one and the regions are baulking at the idea of a European objective, even though in this Council conclusion it would be a general sort of attainment objective as opposed to any governance issues or anything like that.

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