Mr. Tom Boland:

I will comment on that in so far as I can. I think we are trespassing into the policy area. The Government has decided as part of the national strategy for higher education that the Higher Education Authority will remain in place. I do not want to sound patronising when I say that I absolutely appreciate the rightness of this committee's concern about what has been reported by the Comptroller and Auditor General. I see the genuineness of it. Overall, the system we have operated with the institutions and the Department has been overwhelmingly effective in ensuring accountability for very significant public funding in higher education.