Adult Education and the Irish Economy - policy challenges and workforce skills

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Đào

Adult Education and the Irish Economy examines how evolving economic decisions shape Irish society over the coming years. It discusses job losses, manufacturing relocation, and rising unemployment, alongside labour inflows and skills shortages. The text reviews Ireland’s shift from agricultural production to industrial phases and then to knowledge and service economies. It argues that lasting competitiveness depends on individuals building advanced, core, and soft skills as “no job for life” becomes the norm.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time13 min

AccessFree to download

Adult Education and the Irish Economy

Economic challenges and policy decisions

Historical context of economic evolution

Impact of change on jobs and skills

Changing trends in future employment

Adult Education and the Irish Economy Sexton Cahill The Irish Economy is at an interesting and dynamic phase of its development and we are faced with major decisions that will impact on the Irish society for many years to come. These decisions are and must be made by all who are in a position to inﬂuence. Over the past year we hear of signiﬁcant job losses and of migration of basic manufacturing to Eastern Europe and further east to China and the other countries of Asia. To quote the IBEC quarterly economic survey just published: "More than 32,000 jobs have been lost in the manufacturing industry over the past 3 years and a further decline is likely in the ﬁrst half of this year. Manufacturing employment is back at levels reached in the late 1996 with falls in the modern sector as well as traditional industry. Policymakers cannot stand idly by as manufacturing jobs relocate to other parts of the globe. There is a certain complacency which rests on the thesis that manufacturing can be outsourced while higher paid employment in R&D, innovation and marketing is retained here in Ireland. Much of the higher income activity can be performed in lower cost countries–a trend that will gather pace if we do not meet the challenge". We listen to the concerns of the EU about inﬂuxes of labour from the new accession states post May of 2004. We listen to the Government telling us we need immigrant labour to sustain our economy. We have 100,000 notiﬁed vacancies that we continually struggle to ﬁll. Reliance on visas issued to immigrant labour is growing and many of our hospitality industry jobs are ﬁlled by non-nationals. Along with this news, we know that there is in excess of 4% unemployment–a total of 86,500 persons-and that this is rising. Sowe live in dynamic times but times we need to mould and inﬂuence. The Historical Context Economic evolution or revolution is not new and is most certainly not new to these shores. The Ireland of the 1950s is no more. But we have undergone a number of signiﬁcant evolutions and revolutions since the 1950s. Ireland of the post World War Two was a traditional agricultural economy relying primarily on the small family farm. In the 1960s we had the beginnings of an Industrial Economy under the inﬂuence of Sean Lemass. This industrial base was small but had roots in the agricultural background. Things like ﬂour milling and shipping come to mind, along with the co-operatives and the basic processing of the agricultural output. In the 1970swe had the migration of the multi-nationals to Ireland, attracted by the IDA. We had plenty of cheap labour and we could provide a base in Europe and more importantly in the EEC (now the EU) for cheap and low skilled manufacturing. Like the birds in the night, many of these companies are long gone. In the 1980s we began to attract organisations that were interested in a more skilled workforce–and we had that to offer – and we were still a lot less expensive than other parts of the world. I am thinking of the Chemical/Pharmaceutical industries and others,– companies like Syntex and Analog Devices. This second phase of industrialisation was more embedded and longer lasting and many of these companies remain with us today. In the 1990s we started to see the emergence of the ‘knowledge economy’ and the ‘Dot Com’ companies. The Iona Technology Organisation comes to mind, along with the Intels ofthis world. In the ﬁrst decade of this millennium we have been introduced toa new phenomenon–the Service Economy. While we can debate the time of the various evolutions and the impact of each, we need to accept that this evolution is part of the changing Irish Economy. The Impact of Change So what is the debate about and what can we do to inﬂuence the impact of the changes that are thrust upon us by the evolution? One key item that we struggle to come to terms with is the fact that there is ‘no job for life’ outside of the civil service and perhaps the semi-state se

FAQs

What major economic pressures does the document highlight for Ireland?

It highlights significant job losses, manufacturing relocation abroad, and rising unemployment, alongside growing reliance on immigrant labour and persistent vacancies.

How does the document describe Ireland’s economic evolution over time?

It traces a shift from a 1950s agricultural economy to industrial growth in later decades, followed by multinational migration, and then toward a knowledge economy and a service economy.

What does the document say is essential for competitiveness going forward?

It states that future competitiveness depends on workers already in the workforce and in the future having advanced work skills, higher education, and strong core and soft skills.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Đào