current generation of semi-skilled workers ?

IDA = Industrial Development Agency ..

"Ireland is that it will have to expand university and technical college education. If it's a white collar future and not an assembly-line one, then that means the current generation of semi-skilled workers have had it"

Ireland already has an excess of graduates, a lot of which emigrate or are under utilized in assembly-line work such as the above. The problem is that in today's global economy there is no need of a large local semi-skilled work force. The main use of ventures such as Dells Limerick factory was to give US companies access to the Euro zone.

What we are seeing is the Nike-isation of the global economy. A few hundred executives managing a company on continent A while the work-force resides in low-wage continent B, the profits of which are returned to continent A.