I am obviously disappointed, but not surprised, that manufacturing output has been for some years in relative decline vis-à-vis other GDP contributors.

For nigh three decades our economy’s growth has been chiefly on the back of its services sector, where competition from low-wage countries is practically inexistent. In contrast, such a phenomenon has been in a direction where we ourselves are reckoned by competitors as low-wage.

That is why we have tended to disregard our gradual diminution in competitiveness.

And that is why I welcome the Education Minister’s innovative launching of an open discussion on whether compulsory schooling should extend to age 18.

It is only via education that our national productivity can be enhanced and competitiveness protected.

Every euro thus spent needs to be considered as an economic, not just social, investment, which by definition should yield dividends only after some years, often imperceptibly.

Reducing unemployment is only a by-product, albeit a valuable one. Sensible economic governance looks at the medium to long term. So let us target September 2015 for enforcing age 17, and leave open to discussion age 18 until a comprehensive exercise on the impact on public finances has been completed, if not in detail, at least in the large.