John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It was one way. I thank both Mr. McFeely and Dr. Neavyn.

To change the subject, a report commissioned by the Higher Education Authority has featured prominently in the media in recent days. While I have not read it, I have read some of the media coverage of the reaction to its findings. In politics, it is said one should not ask a question if one does not know the answer to it. One could turn those words around in this case and say one should not commission a report unless one knows what its findings will be. The reaction of the Higher Education Authority since the publication of the report has been interesting, to say the least, because it appears from the outside as if the authority is distancing itself from the findings.

Fortunately, the report in question is not all bad news because, having examined the potential for establishing a technological university on a shared campus, the authors have proposed Waterford Institute of Technology and another institute of technology as the proposed locations for the university. As everyone will be aware, however, the report also recommends the merger of Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin. I ask Dr. Prendergast to outline his response to that recommendation.