Senior executives from State job-creation agencies and multinational computer companies have called for the minimum school-leaving age to be raised to 17. At a press briefing organised by Forfas, the State body which oversees industrial development, the call was supported by executives from the IDA, Forbairt (in charge of indigenous industry), the training agency FAS and the computer firms Intel, IBM and Hewlett Packard.
The school-leaving age is currently 15, having been raised from 14 in 1972. The Minister for Education, Mr Martin, is planning to publish a School Attendance Bill early next year which will, among other things, raise this to 16.
Raising the school age to 17 is first among six Forfas priorities. Others include putting personal computers in every classroom; raising participation in third-level education to 65 per cent of the 17 to 19-year age cohort; developing education and business co-operation, and improving forecasts of skills needs.
Mr Colm Regan, executive director of Forfas, said yesterday there were several reasons to raise the school-leaving age to 17.
Firstly, students who stay longer at school are in a better position to move to third level, and thus gain skills and qualifications linked to the needs of the Irish economy - in information technology in particular and in science and technology in general.
Secondly, Forfas believes that by the time they reach 17 all students should have either the Leaving Certificate or a "nationally certified traineeship." Mr Regan said Ireland lags behind most European countries in the numbers of second-level students undergoing apprenticeship or other vocational training.
In the EU only Portugal has a lower proportion of second-level students in vocational education. The proportion is 23.1 per cent in Ireland, compared with 77.8 per cent in Austria, 77.5 in Germany, 70.2 in the Netherlands and 57.7 in the UK.
The third reason for raising the school-leaving age is to help deal with long-term unemployment.
"It is the young people who leave school early who get locked into that vicious cycle. They do not have a good education and therefore do not get a job when young, and they can't get out of that trap," Mr Regan said.
At the briefing, Forfas also clarified the planned increased in third-level and Post-Leaving Certificate (PLC) places to help deal with current skills shortages in computer-related areas.
The total short-term increase in places proposed earlier this year by the Forfas Skills Group was 3,200 at degree and PLC level. Just over 2,300 places have been made available so far.
A thousand were planned for `teleservices'; 690 have materialised. Of 1,000 planned on software degree courses, 653 have materialised; 510 have started of the 750 sub-degree technician places planned; and all 450 of the places for graduates on computer-related courses have been made available.