The president of the Irish Pharmaceutical Association (IPHA), Leisha Daly, has warned of a skills gap in the industry due to a shortage of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) students, reports the Independent.IE.

Daly, the outgoing IPHA president and country director for Janssen - the pharmaceutical subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson, said that the promotion of STEM in schools is important to the country’s reputation as a place for highly skilled workers.

"It is a concern and will become a problem over time," Daly said. "We need to keep encouraging students to take up STEM courses in university, but also to do subjects like maths and physics in secondary school."