No hi-tech future without investment in schools

GIVEN the downturn in the construction and financial sectors and the increased competition from China and India in the manufacturing sector, it is widely recognised that the best way forward for the Irish economy is via knowledge-intensive, high value-added activities.

It is alarming, therefore, to learn from the INTO that not a cent of the €252 million set aside in the National Development Plan for computer technology has been spent.

In the latest relevant OECD report, Ireland is propping up the table of investment in education. In fact, Government investment in this crucial infrastructure has fallen from 5.25% of GDP in 1995 to a very low 4.6% last year. The OECD average is 6.2% while the Scandinavian countries spend more than 7%.

It is no accident that they have the most advanced economies and the highest quality of life in the world, while we are stuck with the largest class sizes and the poorest IT provision.

Three years ago, the Enterprise Strategy Group and the HEA called for Ireland to be “at the forefront in generating and using new knowledge for economic and social progress” and to be in the top three countries in education and research.

Unfortunately, the Government failed to harness the wealth needed to do this, but took the populist route of promising more tax cuts, particularly for the very wealthy, including speculators who have contributed to the disruptive boom-and-bust in property prices.

Along with the disastrous consequences of the privatisation of Eircom — the worst and most expensive broadband in the EU — this bodes badlyfor our need to build a knowledge economy.

Cllr Ray Corcoran

16 Hollywell

Ballymun

Dublin 11