Paltry spend jeopardises economy

EDUCATION Minister Noel Dempsey may feel justified in taking some consolation from the latest OECD survey on education, but the fact remains that Ireland is languishing embarrassingly close to bottom of the league in regard to spending on education.

In both primary and second level, the country is placed 20th out of 27 countries for its average spend per pupil, and fractionally fares better at third level.

Third-level spending per student here is E12,246 as against the average of E15,082 but in both primary and second level, the gap is even greater.