John Hartnett, the effective lord mayor of the Irish-American tech glitterati, fired off a few home truths in the Doubletree hotel in Dublin on Wednesday at the inaugural Ireland Inc Summit ...(yes, yet another "summit" ... doesn't anybody hold conferences any more?)

Hartnett, a Limerick man who is based in California, where he runs tech investment firm SVG Partners, sat on a panel alongside Shaun Murphy, managing partner of KPMG; Domhnall Slattery of aviation lessor Avolon; Danny McCoy of Ibec; and Stuart Dwyer of the US embassy in Ballsbridge. The five wise men discussed the weighty topic of "Ireland and the world".

Hartnett, an Aer Lingus director who also founded the Irish Technology Leadership Group, made the salient point that, despite the economic recovery, it all could be put at risk because of the incessant slide in international rankings of Irish universities, and the lack of suitably qualified tech graduates.

The tech industry has been beating this drum for years. Is anyone listening?