The origin of the potential skills shortage in industry can be traced to the reduction in the number of students taking science subjects at Leaving Certificate, the president of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, has said.
Dr Seamus Smyth was speaking at the foundation stone-laying ceremony for a £9.6 million science building in Maynooth by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern.
Mr Ahern said that "with skills shortages emerging in certain key sectors, it is vital for Ireland's competitive advantage that we continue to produce high-calibre science and technology graduates."
Dr Smyth said the percentage of Leaving Cert students taking chemistry had fallen from 20 per cent in 1990 to 13 per cent last year. "Over the past six years, the chemical industry has been the largest single sector consumer of science graduates with primary degrees." The percentage of students taking Leaving Cert physics had also fallen.
"These two subjects form the fundamental basis on which many of the new technologies depend, and the need to actively promote them is now widely recognised.
"Surveys reveal that students tend to avoid these subjects because of the significant mathematical content, and because they are frequently not considered a good proposition in the all-important matter of maximising the points score for entrance to university courses."
He stressed that the third-level sector must co-operate with second-level schools to attract more students into science subjects, noting that Maynooth was leading the way with a science prize scheme for local schools.
Dr Smyth also acknowledged the vision of those in charge of the pontifical university of St Patrick's College - now a separate institution from NUI Maynooth - in allowing "a new and totally independent university to emerge and their facilitation of its coexistence on a shared campus."