Mr. Paul Hannigan:

I will respond to a few issues and Mr. Costello will go into more detail. There is a real issue about how we deal with people who have emigrated from Ireland but want to get back onto programmes here. We need to find a solution and Mr. Costello has suggestions that can help.

In terms of the academic council, it is important to note Professor Norton's comment that we must strike a balance between governance, management and the academic council. At the moment the council seems to have a different role than it currently has within institutes of technology. In the context of what Dr. Walsh said, we are very conscious of the important role that academic councils play, particularly in the quality assurance area. We want that maintained because we think the relationship works quite well at the moment and it is a case of trying to retain and build on what we have.

In the context of the overall situation, mention was made of taking the fees issue off the table. However, fees matter to students who want to go to an institute of technology or university. They feel that they already make substantial contributions through fees which will increase over the next few years. From a student perspective, they already pay for the service.

We must look at how that is addressed in the overall funding situation. We are looking at the development of lecturers in the context of an overall institutional contribution to the region in which we operate. Three roles were mentioned and any institution will see itself as trying to develop in all of those areas. We can identify the strengths and weaknesses of the staff that are appropriate to address the issues concerned. That is how it works. There is good engagement from the lecturing staff in the context of community engagement with the regional perspective at institutes of technology.