Become the 'High Priest of The Bog Pyramid' with your millions of nutty naive followers and you will be minted in no time!

These assumptions are wrong on a number of levels.

First of all nobody learns a language and gets rich from that. You need a skill (or two) and a language. I have three skills, scientific, business and foreign language and that's why I got hired in my last job. That's the way the world is going- multiple skills

Hiring a translator..I've heard that one before. Obviously speaking Chinese gives you an ADVANTAGE against other candidates in working with the world's 2nd largest economy, something very useful in future careers. Who gets hired other things mostly being equal, the guy who needs the translator or the guy who doesn't....hmm. Who can manage the workforce effectively, who can read what's going on around him, who can sell and train the workforce...hmmm. China is already one of the world's biggest markets for almost any good or service you can think of.

The article was written 4 years ago, how many new law graduates getting employed in Ireland now??? Business graduates with no foreign language skills?? Even business graduates with European language skills?? How quickly does the world change?

If the law or bus. grads spoke Chinese I guarantee you a couple of openings will be there for them that they wouldn't have.
It may not be economic recovery for Ireland if a few more graduates learned Chinese but it's part of the bigger picture, the country's economy depends on the skills and education of the workforce. It comes from the individual first, not the whole. I think a lot of Irish people understand that having gone back to get post-grad degrees recently.

Why do so many Asian companies place their European HQs in Holland, Germany and Belgium? Multilingual skilled workforces (with direct flights to Asian cities). In Asia it is almost impossible to get a good job without foreign language skills. Many graduate opportunities in good companies need TWO foreign languages e.g. Korean/English or English/Japanese, believe it or not!

My idea is to provide direct flights to Asia and build Irish brands and cultural and educational representation in Asia. But the main thing Ireland needs to do is reduce costs across the board!

My idea is to provide direct flights to Asia and build Irish brands and cultural and educational representation in Asia.

Here is my suggestion for economic recovery.

Test the entire adult workforce for mathematical ability, more than 2 million people.

Offer a prize for those in the bottom 20% consisting of tickets to various exotic destinations, mexico, cambodia etc.

Cancel the passports and citizenship of these individuals while they are on holiday.

The remaining workforce will then be "above average". As is well known, we have to be "above average" to compete in global markets.

I see some German politicians have suggested Greece sells off a few of its islands to cover some of her debt.

I've always thought we needed something similar. I'm sure some of our islands are of great strategic importance and could be sold off to some country as a naval base.

Here is my suggestion for economic recovery.

Test the entire adult workforce for mathematical ability, more than 2 million people.

Offer a prize for those in the bottom 20% consisting of tickets to various exotic destinations, mexico, cambodia etc.

Cancel the passports and citizenship of these individuals while they are on holiday.

The remaining workforce will then be "above average". As is well known, we have to be "above average" to compete in global markets.

How about getting rid of transition year in schools?

Interesting idea, why do you propose this?

How about removing the "Transition year" part of it and just making it another normal school year?

Interesting idea, why do you propose this?

How about removing the "Transition year" part of it and just making it another normal school year?