Access to education - Losing our brightest is not an option

UNIVERSAL access to education is the mark of a civilised society and, in this country, considerable progress has been made in that fraught, divisive but empowering area over recent decades.

Far more people than ever before have an opportunity to engage with third level education and the figures show that young Irish people avail of this opportunity more enthusiastically than any generation of Irish people that preceded them. That ambition, supported by families and the State but made real by young people’s efforts, is the one of the most determined commitments to the future that can be seen in these challenging times.

It is another of the tragedies of the day that this so often manifests itself in permanent emigration and the heartbreak this can bring to families, especially parents left alone at this time of the year.