Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 May 2014
44. Deputy Tom Barry asked the Minister for Education and Skills if, under the upcoming European cohesion policy headline target for education, development and strategy to promote the EU flagship initiative, Youth on the Move, he has carried out actions to enhance the performance of our education system. [23283/14]
View answerYouth on the Move is a package of policy initiatives on education and employment for young people in Europe. Launched in 2010, it is part of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Under the Europe 2020 strategy, Ireland has signed up to a national headline target to reduce early school leaving to 8%, and to increase the number of 30-34 year olds with tertiary education to 60% by 2020. Ireland provides annual updates to the European Commission on this target as part of the National Reform Programme (NRP) process. According to the latest data available, Ireland's early school leaving rate was 9.7% in 2012, down from 11.4% in 2010. The latest data also shows that Ireland's tertiary attainment rate for 30-34 year olds was 51.1% in 2012, up from 49.7% in 2011. These figures represent positive progress towards our EU 2020 target.
