Deirdre Clune (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegation for coming before us and giving us some feedback on the report. As Mr. O'Sullivan pointed out, the area is moving so quickly that we need to update it. The committee has agreed that we would keep all the proposals under review and constantly challenge them and make sure they are implemented or acted upon and responded to. The Ministers for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and Education and Skills appeared before the committee before Christmas to discuss the issue. In particular, we raised the issue of the technology visa, which the delegation has been championing and pushing for, with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. His comments indicated he had moved further on with regard to introducing such an measure and he is going through the process. I agree that it is slow but it is important and something to which we are committed. As Mr. O'Sullivan noted, it is about bringing excellent skills to this country that will in turn feed out into and develop further jobs in that area. Mr. O'Sullivan outlined it very well in the submission he gave the committee.

Mr. O'Sullivan mentioned the quality of our graduates but he did not expand on it. Could he expand on it? It is something of which we are very conscious. We asked that the issue of students dropping out of third level be examined. The third-level sector is examining that. Is Mr. O'Sullivan happy with the liaison with the third-level sector? Is there enough dialogue? Our report found that there needs to be more communication.