Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is coming to a point I was thinking of while you were speaking. For my generation, and I worked in a pub as a student when I was going to college, the pub was one of those part-time jobs. One did not think about it as a long-term career unless one grew up with the business or it was a family business, as Mr. Moynihan mentioned. It is great to see that shift and that now there is a degree available for students who want to pursue it because it is a very exciting, fun and energetic type of career. I gather that there has been a difficulty in putting a degree course in place, in the sense that you are dealing with SOLAS, the further education sector and so forth. Perhaps you wish to speak to that a little more.

Mr. Clancy said: "These students will go on to hold senior well-paid positions within the trade, with a lifelong career available if they so choose." Can you give us an idea of what type of salary somebody who completes the degree can expect to start on? Perhaps you cannot answer that question but I would like to know if it is possible to do so.

I refer to Mr. O'Keeffe's presentation. You talked about where the gaps are - general management, operations, customer care and event management. There are many courses in event management now. When you spoke about them I thought to myself that they are key pieces in the entire industry. If that is where the gaps are, there is a real danger that the scaffolding will come down around the structures there are in place if those key oversight people are not in the positions you mentioned. Event management could be something in the arts or music and might not necessarily be driven towards your industry-----