Human capital must be given greater consideration if Ireland is to maintain a successful economy according to Dr Phil Nolan, Chairman of the Irish Management Institute (IMI).

Speaking at the IMI’s National Conference, Dr Nolan, the former Eircom CEO, addressed 300 business people at the Ritz-Carlton in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow. He emphasised that, despite the business turmoil pervading the global economy, Ireland still has a specific opportunity in the area of human capital to build a sustainable economic future.

‘Put simply, a successful economy depends on two things – financial capital and human capital. To date, Ireland has been quite successful at putting in place an environment that is conducive to attracting financial capital. However, we are behind the curve when it comes to human capital - and this is where we have a huge opportunity.’

He continued: ‘There are challenges facing us achieving the requisite population level with the right talents. We must make Ireland an appealing place to live, by focusing on quality of life and addressing a range of issues where we’re currently lagging behind, including health, infrastructure and waste. Also we may need to compromise on certain things, for example, space. In terms of population density, we are significantly under populated for a developed country. Our GDP would be much higher if we had the population density of, say, the UK or Switzerland.’