Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I was in third level education for most of my life, lecturing for 35 years, and it always fascinated me that we could have master's degrees running with eight people in the room and two or three lecturers. We were prepared to sustain that within the university system because we liked the idea. It was paid for but the amount of money in question was not great.

I also take Ms Flynn's point about rural decay, which is enormous. I have spent much time travelling around the country and I see it on a daily basis. The smaller school is a way of keeping rural decay at bay. I have heard everything my colleague said and I am a great believer that education should be highly diverse. Our education should not be a Tesco system of education, where we all go to the same school and do the same thing, or the bigger the better. I do not believe in that.

Mr. Loftus is extraordinary-----