Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and his officials. I thank the Minister for giving the overview of the education issues he hopes to work on and progress as part of the country's Presidency. As is the case with many Departments there are some issues in education on which we must work together at European level and one of those is the funding for the Erasmus programme. I welcome that that will be increased in the coming period because with our economies integrating and our markets mutually dependent it is crucial that we ensure there is good interaction at an educational level with universities in other countries and movement among students during their education.

Regarding the Presidency, the Minister outlined some of the meetings that will take place and the initiatives on which he will be working. Are there two or three key objectives he would like to achieve by the time the Presidency moves on from us in the middle of next year? He might outline that. Will he expect this committee to engage with him and the Department in terms of work during that Presidency period? I thank the Minister for attending.