Dr. Patrick Prendergast:

No, absolutely not. There is a process ongoing in Irish higher education. As the Deputy will be aware, we have the Hunt report, the national strategy for higher education, which makes some recommendations. The universities were asked to submit documents on how they could work together, for example, through clustering and so forth, to pursue this national strategy. We then have this report from the international panel with its various recommendations. The Minister has stated its recommendations do not accord with Government policy. I do not believe it is to the advantage of the higher education system to merge Trinity College and University College Dublin and I am glad the proposal is not Government policy. Again, it is very hard to know what to say when I and no one else present have read the report in question.