Ireland has a culture of snobbery that has overvalued university education compared to trades such as carpentry, Higher Education Minister Simon Harris has said.

He claims this culture has left us without people to build and retrofit homes, while secondary school students are left fearing that they won't get into the right university.

"It's not accidental that we have a shortage of people to build houses in this country," he insisted.

"It's not accidental from a policy point of view that we don't have enough people to retrofit homes in this country." Mr Harris said that the question that students are often asked is, "tell me the name of the university you want to go to' rather than "tell me what you want to do with your life and we'll show you how to get there".

"I don't say that to blame parents or students," he added. "I think that's a culture we have created in Ireland."

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He also noted that his department has now changed the CAO website so that it includes lots of information about apprenticeships, to encourage students to think of alternatives.

"I have been in dozens of secondary schools this year talking to students about their options after leaving school and being honest, you can see the fear and the anxiety in the eyes of so many," he said.

Mr Harris said that Ireland has a tougher exam culture than many other countries.

"We are living in a country here where I actually think we are outliers in terms of the pressure we actually put on young people - in terms of you must get X amount of points and if you don't get X amount of points, you can't fulfil your dreams or your career.

"It's not true and we have allowed a narrowing of the conversation of the options after school."

He said the Irish education system has devalued the importance of trades and other career paths.

He said we have created a culture of snobbery around third-level education with young people pressured to go to university.

"So, what I am trying to do is broaden that conversation, create better pathways between further education and higher education, highlight the importance of apprenticeships and the fact that they are third-level and can provide a qualification and well-paid job for you.

"We've got to move beyond this idea that when the young adult sits down with mum or dad or teacher, the only conversation they're having is about the CAO and points and actually start talking about all of the different ways to get where you want to be."