Ireland's strong education system was the key to the country's massive economic boom, the President Mary McAleese said today.
Mrs McAleese said in a speech today at Japan's Tokyo University that the Government's "far-seeing" investment in education had paid off handsomely in the 1990's when the Celtic Tiger erupted.
The president, who worked for many years as a university professor, explained that the boom originated from the 1960s when ministers began to provide free access to second-level schools and colleges.
"Suddenly the reach of education was extended to huge numbers of young people, the number of third-level students increased four-fold over the next 25 years," the president, who has been visiting the Far East as part of this year's St Patrick's Day celebrations, said.
"The country which was the poorest to join the European Union 30 years ago is now among the world's richest countries," she said, adding that the OECD recently ranked Ireland fourth in the world in terms of purchasing power.
Mrs McAleese touted Ireland's membership of the European Union, then the EEC, in 1973 as a key to the high levels of economic growth. "Things did not change overnight but in that crucial decision the tide of our fortunes began to turn," she said during her address.
The President revealed that the Irish and Japanese Governments were developing a working holiday agreement to allow young Japanese and Irish people to travel and work for a year in both countries.
Mrs McAleese said a greater collaboration in scientific research between universities in both countries could yield great benefits. "We very much wish to have even greater co-operation with Japan, not only in economics, trade and business, but also in political exchanges and in social and cultural relations," she told the gathering.