Compulsory schooling for all to age 17 urged by Forfast executive

THE minimum compulsory school leaving age should be increased to 17, the chief executive officer of Forfas, the development authority, has urged.

Mr John Travers told a conference on higher education and economic development in Dundalk RTC that raising the school leaving age would help to ensure that all students stayed on to the Leaving Cert by 2010.

Due to economic and demographic factors, Ireland was in a "unique position to make a "significant leap forward" in living standards, he said. With the right policies, the unemployment rate of 13.5 per cent could be halved within 15 years.

The numbers of unemployed could be reduced from 127,000 today to about 50,000, while the quality of life could be improved through greater access to education and training, and an increase in resources to tackle deprivation and crime.

Any future approach to education and training should aim to double investment in training within five years, he said. There should be a system of nationally certified traineeships, and the intake to third level should be increased by 20 per cent.

Mr Travers said there were specific skills shortages in areas such as languages, software development and science which needed to be addressed through the provision of additional places.