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MINISTER OF STATE Eoghan Murphy talked up Ireland to an international audience this week, appearing from Singapore on CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss the EU Apple ruling and other matters.
During a discussion about the attractiveness of Ireland as a destination for foreign investment, he claimed:
We’ve a young population, with the highest education in Europe.
Is this true?
(Remember, if you hear a claim about how Ireland compares to Europe and the rest of the world, email factcheck@thejournal.ie or tweet @TJ_FactCheck).
Claim: Ireland has the best education in Europe
Verdict: FALSE
What was said:
You can watch a short clip of Murphy’s interview, and a breakdown of the basic facts, above. Watch the interview in full, here.
Our focus is on this claim:
We’ve a young population, with the highest education in Europe [Emphasis added].
We asked Fine Gael, Eoghan Murphy’s office, and the Department of Finance for evidence to support his claim, and the department directed us to the 2016 OECD Education at a Glance report.
FactCheck asked Murphy’s spokespersons to clarify the precise meaning of “highest education”, and to specify the measure he was referring to, but unfortunately we did not receive a response.
We’re going to treat his claim as a general claim about the quality of Ireland’s education system, in the context of his broader argument about the attractiveness of Ireland for foreign investment.
This means we won’t be analysing evidence relating to our primary education system.
Prevalence of third-level education
The 2016 OECD report tracked the educational attainment levels of, among others, 23 EU countries, in 2015.
It found that, among 25-64 year-olds (post third-level, working-age adults):
Among 25-34 year-olds:
The OECD report also tracked the types of degrees being obtained by college graduates in 19 out of the 28 EU member states.
Of particular relevance to Murphy’s broader point about the attractiveness of Ireland as a destination for foreign investment:
Although it wasn’t cited by Eoghan Murphy’s spokesperson, we’ve also looked at the latest data from Eurostat, the European Commission’s statistics agency, which relates to all 28 EU member states.
In 2014, Ireland had the 10th-highest percentage (36.9%) of 20-24 year-olds currently enrolled in third-level education.
However, the figure for Ireland is provisional, so it comes with something of a health warning.
Quality of third-level education
The prevalence of third-level education is only part of the question of how good our system is.
Unfortunately, there isn’t really a comprehensive international ranking of aptitude among third-level students, but we do have rankings for our universities, via the Times Higher Education Top 200.
Due to complications with data involving Trinity College Dublin’s ranking in the most recent report, which emerged this week, we’re going to look at the 2014-2015 list, in the interest of fairness.
The highest-ranked Irish university was TCD, at 138th. Ranked above that were:
That’s 49 EU universities, in nine countries, ranked above Ireland’s highest-rated third-level institution.
Ireland had one university in the top 200, whereas seven EU countries had a higher number than that.
So clearly, according to the Times Higher Education rankings, which measure quality of teaching and research, as well as influence and innovation, the third-level institutions on offer in Ireland are far from the best in the EU.
To evaluate the quality of secondary education, we consulted the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
That’s a reading, maths and science test given to more than half a million 15 and 16 year-olds in 65 countries around the world, including 27 out of 28 EU member states.
The test is administered every three years, and unfortunately the most recent results are from 2012.
Nonetheless, according to those figures:
The 2016 OECD report also ranked the ability to read and write, as well as perform mathematical functions, according to the PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies).
This breaks down literacy and numeracy into six levels, from 0-5, with 0 being the lowest level of competency, and 5 being the highest.
Here’s how Irish adults ranked in 2015.
Literacy
Out of 17 EU member states (plus Northern Ireland, England, and Flanders in Belgium, which were treated as separate entities).
Numeracy
Out of 16 EU countries (plus Northern Ireland, England, and Flanders in Belgium)
Clearly, by this measure of literacy and numeracy among the general adult population, Ireland is quite a distance from the top of the EU rankings.
The OECD report also involved an ICT (information and communications technology) test. Results were reported for 14 EU member states, plus Northern Ireland, England and Flanders.
Again, by this measure of computer skills, Irish adults rank a fair distance from the top, among the EU countries measured.
Eoghan Murphy’s claim was that Ireland had “the highest education in Europe”. Taking this to mean “best”, it’s clear that this is a vast exaggeration of the reality, according to most key measures.
We rate the claim FALSE.
Send your FactCheck requests to factcheck@thejournal.ie
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God Bless the Holy Father and I wish him the best for his retirement.
Can I ask you Padraig what effect will your blessing have on the pope?
William- can I ask you what skin off your nose any blessing is, one way or the other?
Mr Martin in his Drumcondra palace a far cry from an industrial school or Magdelene laundry. I’m sure the Rat will retire to a nice palace too. Christians my eye ! Hypocrites more like !
Amen to that.
It’s a simple question Vincent. Maybe you can answer it?
I cannot express how bored I am of re amount of coverage this is getting everywhere. It’s actually irritating me at this point.
He is the supreme head of the Catholic Church, his position is one of most recognised and spoken about roles in the world, he is viewed in the same way as other powerful world leaders and a Pope leaving office before death has not happened for a long long time so like it or not it is quite a newsworthy event
Perhaps, but all I know is that he has absolutely no bearing on my life. As such, having 8 stories on here in one day about it, never mind radio specials all day, and live blogs on other websites frankly seems overkill.
Just because it has no bearing on your life is not reason to dilute coverage of any story, many people will claim this story has a huge bearing on their lives. If the Queen abdicated, Obama resigned, Merkel walked away etc etc would would have the same level of coverage, what you think is overkill many think as relevant and important and I’m not a religious nut just stating a fact
Agree with you Richie, @Zoe you can switch off from watching the news tonight and settle down to Corrie or Eastenders or tallaforina.
I think that, first and foremost, he is the spiritual leader of several billion people. Secondly, this news is historic and for that reason, is a bombshell. No Pope has resigned in this way in almost 600 years and so this day will go down in history, as will 28th February when he steps down. Thirdly, he was a controversial choice for Pope to begin with, despite the fact that, according to anybody who knows him, his personality does not match his reputation pre-2005 as an enforcer. I think there are plenty of reasons why this news warrants the blanket coverage it will get.
Not several billion but one billion sheeple
@ Mister I believe the Vatican claim 1.2 billion souls.
Wow. First off, please don’t accuse me of watching Tallafornia or Eastenders. Just because I’m not as interested as some of you about the resignation of a religious leader (who isn’t my religious leader) doesn’t mean I am an idiot. I am fully aware of the impact this may have on people’s lives. I am simply stating an opinion. It just seems to me that people assume everyone in Ireland is catholic. I doubt there was be this much coverage about the new Archbishop of Canterbury, nor would there be if there was a new Dalai Lama. In fact, if I remember correctly when there was a story about a new Anglican bishop or something people came in here and slagged it off. The double standard seems a bit ridiculous.
I agree, all day rte could be renamed pope te, sick of it
The majority of Ireland is Catholic therefore it is obvious that this story would garner more coverage that the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Dalai Lama, the same people who slagged those stories off are probably the same people slagging this one off, people often don’t discriminate over religions when it comes to slagging them off. I can’t see the difficulty in accepting that for a lot of people this is a big story, if not for you of others fine but as you say he is not your religious leader or impacts on your life so I don’t see why you should offer an opinion on the coverage offered
Frankly I’m allowed whatever opinion I want. Just because it’s not the same as yours doesn’t make it wrong. I also believe you’re entitled to you’re own opinion on the matter too. But we’re both readers of the Journal and are BOTH encouraged to give our opinions. I never attacked anyone personally, just said I was bored and getting a bit irritated.
Excuse the grammar mistake in that last comment of mine.
You have made five comments on a subject you say has no bearing on your life, why give an opinion on something that has no bearing on your life, you say he is not your religious leader and you don’t grasp why this is a newsworthy story, I wouldn’t expect you to moan about the coverage offered when it has no relevance to you but does to a majority
I make comments because I have something to say. I also don’t like when people accuse me of things which I do not do, or of having an opinion I do not have. I have no issue with people finding it newsworthy. I don’t. Why do the comments sections have to be full of people agreeing with each other? Anyway, it seems that no matter what I say (including an apology for poor grammar!) someone is determined to red thumb me. So fair enough. I was giving an opinion, like you.
Hi all.
I think it’s fair to say that this particular thread is really heading off-topic and has been thoroughly debated at this point so can I ask you all to draw a line under it.
It’s absolutely fair enough that Zoe has an opinion about the amount of coverage the issue is getting, and we do ask in our community commenting policy that people refrain from making personal remarks about someone, even if you disagree with their opinion on a topic, so please bear that in mind folks.
(Zoe, on your original comment, I think our coverage is proportionate to the general interest in the resignation, the historical significance and – while diminishing – the influence that directives from the Vatican have traditionally had on this country. Just to explain my decision-making process on this.)
Can we all leave it there?
Appreciate it, Susan, Editor, TheJournal.ie
Did I accuse you of something?? I think not if so please highlight it
I think they’ll leave that one up to show the kind of person you are.
Fine with me, otherwise I wouldn’t have posted.
He has no bearing on YOUR life.
Ah the old, tired sheeple comment. I was wondering how long it would take.
Sick!
And in step the journal police. Pathetic.
Well don’t read about it so!! Some of us might actually find it interesting. I too would like to wish him well in his retirement.
I am a practising Catholic. I wish Pope Benedict a happy retirement. But i agree wit Keith its very hard to have confidence in whats going on in the Vatican. The Vatican trying to muzzle fr flannery and fr brian darcy for speaking the truth. With the help of God we will have a strong Pope, a leader wit backbone and morals and a conscience. Pope Benedict is a decent man but the Vatican needs a good clearout. A new broom sweeps clean.
what exactly has brian darcy said thats the truth and not just ‘populast’ jargon ? while no doubt he is a good man at heart the fact remains that religion is not a fashion accessory that can change with society , the christian religion stems from the teachings of christ , to change religion to suit society would mean altering many of christs teachings to just to accomodate peoples lifestyles many of whom would have no intention anyway even if all these things did happen of following any religion,
” to change religion to suit society would mean altering many of christs teachings to just to accomodate peoples lifestyles many of whom would have no intention anyway even if all these things did happen of following any religion,”
What are you talking about ??? The religion has changed numerous times over the centuries.You know,one example, by “god’s book/law” homosexuals have to be stoned to death,right ??? Thankfully this isn’t so but begs a bigger question,who has the authority to decide what’s to be taken literal??? Secondly if this is god’s law,then to not take this teaching literal,means that god got it wrong ???
I sincerely wish this elderly man the best in retirement. Unfortunately he’s just a pawn in a massive and corrupt organisation. It has changed many times over the years as stated but often as a conduit for the most powerful few. Their wishes and hypocritical lifestyles continue while they inflict their individual beliefs and desires on minorities and the weak. I’ve met some good Christians and priests in my time with logical worldviews. Unfortunately they will still be bullied to follow the party line as were Hitlers minions.
What a nightmare this papacy must have been for him. He has been exposed as a bigot, pedophile enabler and liar. What is sickening our Government is standing in line waiting to kiss the popes arse and singing his praises…….Real short memories.
It’s a wonder how this pointless church has survived until now
Through spreading fear and guilt.
Careful now
.’..and not ended up in jail’ he might have added.
“The attitude of the Vatican changed significantly under his pontificate. They took a much stronger line in relation to these issues,” he said. “He was very interested in Ireland.”
That is such a politicians statement, reminiscent of “Ireland’s a special case” or “Ireland’s is a unique situation”. He didn’t give “two hail Marys” and four “our fathers” about Ireland. Just talking a big steaming pile of Findus Lasagne there Diarmo lad!!!
I have to agree with you there Ru!
There is some sick twisted people in this country! Happy retirement to him god bless him!!!
Many of them were his direct employees.
O. What effect will your request to god actually have? It’s a simple question.
It’s amazing the Catholic Church or any other religion has lasted this long…
It’s called faith Michael.
That’s one man that’s a little bit to reality based for them to make cardinal or pope anytime soon. Brady is good at keeping their secrets so might be in the running.
Was disgusted with Maureen Wilson’s comments on twitter. Deleted now but the damage is done. His stepping down has nothing to do with the Ryan report! He’s just an old man who is unwell…
Was this Maureen in the B. telegraph? Shocking comments.
Yeah, the telegraph. Disturbing…
Absolute disgrace what she said , have they been since deleted? A scathing attack, truly vociferous
Missed it what did she say? …for science like…
Subtly pointing to the Ryan report as the reason behind Benedict’s resignation…launched a barbaric attack on the man, laying the finger of blame for the seamus Donoghue scandal in clonakilty solely at his feet.
Don’t want to repeat it, William. Disgusting comments in reference to the pope and the Ryan report. Judging by her commentary of the flag controversy, she’s a horrible bigot…
She is some bigot, hopefully Enda will address her comment in the Dail tomorrow
Is RTE Radio run by the Catholic Church????
Seems like it today, blessed holy joe Duffy is due beatification one of the days.
Yes as our government is.
No. It’s run by Labour.
It is better than it being run by a Protestant denomination ? Look at Northern Ireland, all media up there is dictated heavily by them. For example, the BBC’s most trusted board member is a reverend in a Methodist congregation in East Belfast. Let’s get real
Sky sports news has said Peter odemwingie has just been spotted outside the Vatican.
Swiss Guard wouldn’t let him in, apparently.
I think he was completely right in resigning…. 85 is too old to have a whole religion under him… I wish him a happy retirement and hope they pick a young pope now like JP2!
Who’d you like to see in the hot seat Denis??
Like everyone else, I don’t know much about the high ranks of the Vatican but I’d be thinking someone about the same age as JP2 was (58)…. Someone who would have some idea what the Catholics of the world are thinking
Think you’re being a bit ageist there Dave. Like look at all Benedict has achieved? Can you point to any other Pope who has performed so well in office?? To quote Cardinal Sandri ‘Benedict has achieved more in the past 7 Years than the whole of Vatican II did in 40′. I agree.
Yes, but a younger Pope like the early Pope John Paul II inspired people… I wasn’t around at the time or anything but when he came to Ireland in the 70′s, people had real respect and love for him but Benedict never seemed as personable as the last pope! And just for the record, I believe that he should have retired before he died too because he wasn’t able for the job.
‘Benedict never seemed as personable…’ Well Denis you really are detached from reality. When His righteous came over here, he was acclaimed by the president of the time as being ‘the most colourful and receptive of all former Pontiffs to have graced this land’.
Is that supposed to be a bad thing?
The quote was referring to Pope Benedict, Denis…
Did Pope Benedict come to Ireland, Martin?
I’d like to know why RTE have Eileen Dunne, Miriam O’Callaghan and a couple of others reporting on this from Rome? Seems a bit excessive to me!
Where did my comment disappear to.First it was there then voom it vanished :(
Mine too…
It’s god’s will,he works in mysterious ways don’t you know???
Why was my comment about the pope being a dictator removed ???
I can’t understand why the comment should be removed but I am aware that there is a tendency to deify the popes. Any criticism of popes unless long since dead is seen as offensive and provocative.
The Pope was authoritarian, dictatorial, dogmatic and rather fundamentalist in outlook.
I know Brian Darcy personally and wonder why he ever became a catholic priest. If he had not been so entwined in celebrities and publicity no one would ever have known him. He was not interested in talking to you if you were not a celebrity/media person. Was he a self-serving priest?
As a human being, I wish him well. As the leader of a harsh Church, with harsh views and a rather authoritarian outlook, I shed no tears.
Compassion, chastity, understanding , embracing inclusivity, understanding difference of view and love of humanity were qualities that he lacked.
Dogmatic theology and abstruse biblical studies do little to enlighten.
The failure to address child abuse and other scandals was a fundamental failure.
have your say