Education cuts - Youth key to our future

THERE was a sharp whiff of irony in the air yesterday as the opening of this year’s BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition by Taoiseach Enda Kenny clashed with the return of TDs to Dáil Éireann after their three-week Christmas holiday.

In the new session of parliament, debate will concentrate on the nation’s deep financial difficulties. Cuts in the field of education will be a subject of heated argument on the floor of the house.

For thousands of bright young pupils whose research projects and inventions are on display at the RDS the political debate will hold more than normal interest. The question uppermost in the minds of teachers, parents and students alike is whether jobs will be available when the educational course is run.