Most studies of the relationship between education and economic development focus on the line of causation running from the former to the latter. The present paper studies how the pattern of Irish development has influenced the structure of the Irish education system. The first section sets out the economic context of late industrialisation within which "Investment in Education" was commissioned in 1962 and how it influenced the reception that the report received. The report's release would be followed shortly thereafter by a series of policy measures that would expand secondary-school enrolment and graduation rates and massively increase the demand for third-level places. Later sections analyse the subsequent evolution of Ireland's binary system of tertiary education and the recent attention devoted to science, technology and innovation policy and the "fourth-level" (postgraduate) sector. Concluding comments focus on the continuing relevance of the perspective embodied in "Investment in Education" for the surprisingly high numbers who continue to leave the Irish education system without a leaving certificate qualification.