[blainm]

Irish person with a CS background here. I think Ireland has similar problems regarding churning out 'talent' to the UK in that there are initiatives in schools for people to use computers but that's about it.

The fact we have a much smaller population also means that the small percentage of really good hackers you'd normally expect generally is a small number. To compound things further, those in this category are also more likely to immigrate, not because of some hardship, but because there are simply better opportunities elsewhere. To put it bluntly, those who dedicate large amounts of time hacking and getting better are a lot less likely to be 'tied down'.

Universities, yes the number of relevant applicants have gone up, and that's good and all, but to me this looks more reactionary than anything else. I think the primary problem is more of an image one, CS itself remains a mystery subject to many. I realise that this problem may also exist elsewhere, but to me it seems a lot more pronounced here.

I'm glad the government is at least doing something about it, but I feel that simply chucking money at it probably isn't the most effective way to tackle it.

[fennecfoxen]

Yeah, I'm skeptical about the existence of "state run organisations dedicated to helping your business". Not that they can't be useful, but, you'll need to tell me why.