For Ireland to make the grade, we need radical education reform

OUR schools are producing students whose maths and science capabilities are less than the international average. That’s what Craig Barrett believes and if his views are shared widely in American business circles then we are in trouble.

Barrett’s views deserve to be respected. The 70-year-old has an extraordinary track record of achievement. He is the former chief executive and chairman of Intel, the American-owned semi-conductor manufacturer which is one of the most sizeable and important employers in the country. Although he no longer has a role with the company it is likely that his views are shared by others within that organisation. And what holds for Intel is likely to be the case at many other international companies that have interests in Ireland or which are being invited to invest.

Barrett is extremely well disposed towards Ireland. He paid his own way to attend the Government-sponsored Global Economic Forum at Farmleigh in September. While there he delivered what was described as a wake-up call at one of the private sessions of delegates. Word leaked out that Barrett had castigated the failures of the country, saying that of the 14 reasons why the American giant invested in the country (back in 1989) only one still applied: our low level of corporation tax. In particular, he is said to have bemoaned the shortcomings of the education system — which is no longer producing sufficiently qualified people for the skilled jobs that are being offered — and the failure to encourage research and development so that new ideas and processes would be forthcoming from Ireland rather than being imported.