Debate contribution: Retaining and Inspiring Young Talent

Debate contribution by Mr Matthew O'Toole on 24 June 2024.

MLA

Mr Matthew O'Toole

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

24 June 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Retaining and Inspiring Young Talent

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4497617

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I have two specific personal connections or reasons to be particularly interested in the subject. I will come on to a couple of comments about the text of the motion in a little while. First, I represent South Belfast, and my constituency office is on University Street. I am a stone's throw from Queen's University, our largest university and oldest institute of higher education, which, along with Ulster University, as most of us agree, does not have enough capacity or space to accommodate the needs of our society, economy and young people. Secondly, I am one of those who left and came back. I am happy to be corrected, but I think that I am the only serving Member who left the region and was away for such a long time. I have personal experience because I left in 2001 to study as an undergraduate in Scotland and did not return until 2020, when I became an MLA. It gives me a unique insight into the mindset of people who leave, whether they wish to leave initially or not, and the barriers that keep them away. We need to be bluntly and, at times, brutally honest with ourselves about the consequences of our young people leaving in such numbers and the barriers that cause them to stay away, which is why I was intrigued to hear that one criticism of our motion was that it is too negative. We specifically talk about solutions, but, when we talk about a serious public policy and societal challenge, it is important to recognise that we are not here for the power of positive thinking. It is not a booster competition. We are not simply cheering one another on; we are not cheerleaders. We are here to debate and interrogate serious public policy challenges. The number of young people who leave here and feel that they cannot come back is a serious public policy challenge. I will touch on some of the important research that has gone into the motion. Pivotal is a relatively new think tank in the North that has examined in some detail the negative economic consequences of the large numbers of undergraduates and school leavers who leave Northern Ireland. We know that a university's worth of young people study across the water, and there are large numbers who feel that they cannot come back. I will come on to the question of those who do not want to go through higher education, because their economic contribution is just as important or, in many cases, more important than those who study at university. However, every motion cannot cover every related topic on every subject, so it is not a fair criticism that the motion does not explicitly mention apprenticeships. The Pivotal research has shown clearly the dire economic consequences of our losing highly productive, motivated young people. Mr Brett talked about our high-performing education system. It is true to say that we produce many graduates who get lots of As in their A levels; that is not the same thing as an effective education system. If it were, our overall levels of educational attainment would be much higher. Our highly selective education system, which tends to favour the better off — many of those who are better off send their kids to university across the water, and those kids never come back — has profound economic and social consequences for this society. Those who do not face up to that are kidding themselves. Profound challenges are created, as Pivotal has found. John Fitzgerald and Edgar Morgenroth, two economists, have studied the productivity consequences, as has the Productivity Institute, which is a relatively new institute, of which Queen's is a partner, of our levels of losing young people. There are real economic consequences. We have lots of great industries in Belfast and across the region, such as the cyber and creative sectors. The Minister will have engaged with those industries in his few months in the job. Those industries need skilled people, but the rest of our economy needs them too. Too many of our most qualified young people are leaving to study and not coming back. There are huge challenges. I give way briefly, because I will get an extra minute.

I appreciate that. I am not a Minister; I do not hold ministerial office. My job is to be the leader of the Opposition. David, you — through the Chair — completely mischaracterise our motion as not having any solutions. It specifically calls on two Ministers to reduce the number of students leaving these shores. That would include raising the number of undergraduate spaces. That, by definition, is a solution. I am sorry, but my job is to be leader of the Opposition not to do the jobs of the Executive parties for them. Our motion includes specific policy challenges. If the Executive parties do not want to face up to the extent and depth of those challenges, that, I am afraid, is for them. This society has moved on enormously in the past 26 years. We have created huge economic opportunities since the Good Friday Agreement, but we still export far too many of our young people. Part of what drives them away is the sense that our politics and society have not moved on. In the new Programme for Government, it would be hugely welcome if the Minister for the Economy and the Minister of Education could work together to produce a strategy to, first, increase the number of undergraduate places here and, secondly, encourage and incentivise those who have left to come back. There are huge reasons for us to be positive about the future.

We need to do our jobs and give those young people a reason to come back.

964 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:48 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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