Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State. The global economy is forcing many western countries to examine how to remain affluent. For many years, we have known that industries such as textiles and manufacturing are moving east. Until recently, we were under the illusion that IT companies would remain here, but they have begun moving east, creating problems for Ireland in terms of retaining jobs.

Education was a key reason for so many multinationals moving to this country, namely, we are an educated English-speaking people. Countries in the developing world have learned from us. For example, China and India can offer similar skill sets to ours at a lower cost. As the days pass, technology and those countries change, we must ensure that we change. If we cannot keep up with other countries, we may lose much of what we gained in recent decades. To stay strong, we must continue to value and invest in our education system. Our goal must be to ensure no one leaves these shores to find work.

Issues of taxation, employment law and enterprise must be dealt with, but this debate is on education and we must address a number of priorities. For example, we must examine the matters of adult literacy, how to keep children in school for as long as possible, how to engender a greater sense of business awareness among schoolchildren and how to encourage lifelong learning and upskilling.

It is of concern that, according to recent figures from the Department of Education and Science, up to 40% of children in disadvantaged areas suffer some form of literacy disadvantage and 60% have considerable difficulty with basic mathematics. The last international adult literacy survey found that 500,000 Irish adults experience some form of reading, writing or mathematical difficulty. Consequently, while we have invested additional money in adult literacy services, we must invest more.

CORI states that Government targets in respect of adult literacy are unambitious, illogical and unacceptable.