Government under fire over funding for sciences

Paul O’Brien

As the Department of Education ponders another year of troubling Leaving Certificate science results, it has been accused of ignoring a 2002 expert report which recommended ways of addressing the decline.

Education Minister Mary Hanafin yesterday appealed to students who received their results to consider science, engineering and technology courses, saying they were "critically important to support the growth of high value knowledge-based industries in Ireland".