Seanad debates

Wednesday, 24 June 2009

10:30 am

Photo of Marc MacSharryMarc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

I join others in seeking a debate on the economy. We will have an opportunity to discuss the matter tomorrow when the Finance Bill is debated. I note the ringing praise of the IMF of Government policies, particularly the steps taken to stabilise the banking sector and the public finances. As Senator Donohoe and I agreed last week, the IMF points out that much more painful action must be taken in the budget. We must be tolerant and fair when the time comes.

I call for a debate on the potential introduction of an entrepreneurship education strategy. The matter is timely in the context of what Senator Harris said yesterday on the introduction of the Lemass award. In the past few weeks Dr. Thomas Cooney, research fellow on entrepreneurship at the Dublin Institute of Technology, and I, with members of the primary and secondary education sector, wrote a proposal in respect of an entrepreneurship education strategy for Ireland. We put forward a 12 point plan, introducing entrepreneurship education from primary school to third and fourth levels. This is not just to create a band of entrepreneurs to create employment in the years to come but also to develop attitudes and behaviour, particularly traits such as taking personal responsibility, creativity and leadership in all our young people. Many have talents which are not just academic. Academic success does not necessarily lead to business success. If we had an appropriate debate about the introduction of a number of measures, possibly including some of the 12 points we have come up with on an integrated entrepreneurship educational strategy, it could lay a foundation similar to that laid by Donogh O'Malley in the 1960s with the introduction of free secondary education, which led to the prosperity of the late 1980s and 1990s up until recent years. It could lay a base which could see a new breed of Irish people lead us into greater times of prosperity in the mid 2010s and into the 2020s.

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