This morning sees the release of the 2026 Leaving Certificate exam results. For two thirds of the 70,000 or so students who sat their exams in June, it is also the prelude to the third level admission process.Starting next week, five rounds of CAO offers will see roughly 45,000 students being offered places at third level. The extent to which this process features in the national conversation reflects an emphasis on obtaining third level qualifications dating back to the far-sighted decision in 1967 to introduce free secondary education.The process begun in the 1960s was turbo-charged by entry into the European Economic Community in 1973 and the structural and cohesion funds that began to flow in the late 1980s as the European Union took shape.The investment paid off handsomely, with a young, educated workforce forming an essential part of the strategy to attract international investment which birthed the Celtic Tiger.The provision of high-quality accessible tertiary education remains a priority of the Government’s strategy. It sits just below fostering research and innovation as an economic enabler. Expanding pathways to skills, reskilling, and apprenticeships that match Ireland’s evolving workforce needs is ranked as priority number three.There is a case to be made for rethinking these priorities as evidence emerges that a shortage of what in the past were termed blue-collar workers is holding back the Irish economy. Dublin Bus – a key element of our transport infrastructure – is currently recruiting drivers from South Africa, while the health service is highly dependent on migrant workers. A shortage of construction workers feeds into the housing crisis and infrastructure deficit.These bottlenecks coincide with the arrival of powerful artificial intelligence models which some analysts believe could displace many of the traditional white-collar jobs currently being filled by third-level graduates. There exists a potential opportunity to make a virtue out of what may soon become an economic necessity.