Hitting education spending is a dunce’s game

I recently attended a rural economic development programme in Massachusetts and North Carolina, courtesy of Boston College and the US State Department. We spent a week in eachstate, examining how economic development policies are promoted locally.

The key message was the importance attached to the quality of the local labour force and the proactive role that education providers, particularly third-level institutions, play in promoting economic activity. Both states take great pride in the quality of their education institutions and use them to attract investors.

Returning to Ireland, I could not help but make comparisons with education policies in this country. Most people in Ireland recognise that the fiscal situation is unsustainable and order must be restored quickly to avoid building up a debt level that will haunt the country for generations.