Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

Following on from the previous discussion, the key to solving the problem of unemployment is undoubtedly education. However, there is a need to accelerate this, because there is a generation of people who cannot wait around. Their contributions, their talents and their lives will be lost as a consequence of not being able to obtain employment. That motivated me to table this matter on the Adjournment, which relates to our third level institutions. We have had great success in this regard over the past 12 to 15 years, with a 60% increase in the number of students accessing our tertiary education system. That is to be welcomed; in fact, we have achieved one of the highest third-level participation rates in Europe, which should be to the country's benefit in the future. However, it will only be to our benefit if the quality of the education is commensurate with the requirements of the economy and is of a standard that is favourable compared to other international educational institutions. Therefore, the decline in the performance of our universities, as discussed recently in an article in The Irish Times and also in comments by the new president of the American Chamber of Commerce, is of concern. In September last year the new Irish Times education editor said:

The new international league table is a serious blow to the Irish university sector. Two years ago TCD was in the elite top 50 colleges, while UCD was in the top 100. Over the past two years both of Ireland's leading colleges have lost significant ground.

During the course of the past month the newly appointed President of the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, Mr. Peter O'Neill, also the managing director of IBM, made some arresting comments, of which we should all take note, about which we should be concerned and which we should seek to address in a way that avoids the impact he has foreseen. He spoke of concerns in respect of six of the seven Irish universities falling out of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. He said that some Irish universities and colleges may need to merge to supply better educated graduates to industry and he expressed concern about the fact that Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin had dropped out of the top 100, although I am unsure whether that is correct. He mentioned UCC, NUI Galway, Dublin City University and DIT. Some of these have dropped from the top 400 and some from the top 300. The alarming comment was that "Already, some of our member firms in the key Digital, ICT, life sciences, and financial services areas are reporting difficulties in hiring suitable candidates." He went on to say that "55% of the demand for ICT professionals in Ireland is being met by inward migration" at a time when our native population is crying out for jobs but obviously lacking the necessary skills and qualifications. He pointed out that these companies are highly mobile and had been attracted by good policies in the past which focused on the talent available. He noted that there had been a pro-business environment from Government at the time and suggested our position as the only English-speaking member of the eurozone was an advantage. These were among many of the reasons they came here. He went on say that if they could not find suitable talent here, Ireland would not be considered for future investments and, worse, that the existing operations may choose to move on to a competitor country where they could find qualified staff.

We have been warned that US companies may well bypass Ireland in future. This prompted me to put down this motion on the Adjournment to call on the Minister to make a statement on the specific intentions and measures he has in mind to address the concerns expressed by the President of the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland and which, I imagine, are shared by the Minister and by everyone in these Houses. There is urgency about this matter given what has been said.