The challenge for Ireland is to create new sources of competitive advantage in the global knowledge society. In doing that, it is on the education system, more than ever before, that we rely. Our future success depends on our ability to create and to innovate. It is through the development of new ideas, new and better products and processes, rather than on price, that Ireland will prosper in the knowledge age.

Our ability to compete internationally will be determined by the skills of our people, by their flexibility and creativity, as well as our system wide capacity for research and development. In economic terms, the education system is a key piece of our national infrastructure. For individuals, their success in the Irish workplace of the future will be increasingly determined by the quality of their personal skills and qualifications.

It is against that background that the Government is now taking bold and momentous steps to move Ireland's economy into a new phase of innovation and growth supported by the creation of a fourth level in higher education. The Government's objective is to encourage more of our third level graduates to pursue advanced post-graduate study and research at fourth level. Our ambition is for a vibrant fourth level sector that will produce our future knowledge leaders and underpin a climate of national innovation.

The Government Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation, which was published last year involves a planned investment of some Euro3.8 billion in the advancement of Ireland's knowledge base.

A blueprint for Ireland's economic and social advancement has been provided in that Strategy, which is central to the new National Development Plan 2007 to 2013.

At the heart of it is the development of the capacity of our higher education system for the achievement of key targets such as doubling the number of PhD graduates, attaining intellectual critical mass in key strategic areas like ICT and the bio-sciences, advancing the quality of postgraduate and PhD training and strengthening industry collaboration.

The development of a leading international quality fourth level system in Ireland is now a major priority in implementing the Government's research strategy. I have recently announced a new cycle of funding under the highly successful Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI) which will be a central mechanism for delivering on the strategy. Third level institutions around the country are currently developing proposals for funding under this cycle, which will involve awards amounting to Euro192 million. This will build on the Euro605 million invested under PRTLI since 1998 as part of the largest programme of development and investment in the history of higher education in this country.

What is currently underway is nothing less than a revolution in research and development activities across our universities and colleges.

Prior to 1998 there was no dedicated research and development budget under the Department of Education and Science. The investments made since mean that today there are dozens of worldclass research facilities on campuses across the country and a range of schemes are supporting thousands of student and staff researchers.

For the first time Ireland is now seen as a destination of choice for leading international research talent.

But as a Government, we have set ourselves even more ambitious plans to build on this progress and to develop a new 'fourth level education' research system that will provide an engine for innovation and shape future economic success as we look to safeguard our national prosperity for the next generation.

As we enter this exciting phase of development, I will be focusing on enhancing the quality of our postgraduate education. The old view of advanced post-graduate study being a form of apprenticeship for a life of academia is out-dated. We need to be to better equip our students with the skills they will need for the workplaces of the future including, but not exclusively, academic workplaces. We must listen to what employers across the system are telling us will be required now and into the future.

The establishment of an international reputation for fourth level research here will also rely on new levels of performance at third level, providing a platform of excellence. A strong, modernised and reformed third level system is essential to underpin an internationally excellent fourth level system as a cornerstone of our future economic and social prosperity.

Our investments in reform, collaboration and quality improvement under the Government's Strategic Innovation Fund for higher education is aimed at now creating the basis of excellence on which Ireland's future economic and social development can be founded. The new NDP identifies separate plans to invest Euro510 million under this fund in the period through to 2013.

Our ambition is to compete at the forefront of developed knowledge economies across the world. I believe that this Government's bold strategy for creating a new sphere of excellence in fourth level education will enable us to achieve that and to reap the benefits in securing competitiveness, quality employment and economic success over the decades ahead.