Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming here and for a comprehensive report.

There are a couple of matters that concern me. I do not see - perhaps I missed it - anything about attrition rates. While the number of CAO applicants seems to be increasing all the time, I understand attrition rates are fairly high. I am not too sure about the university sector but in the institutes of technology, IOT, sector there is a problem.

While they are here, we are moving towards clusters of institutes of technology and technological universities. Do they see those encroaching on the traditional university or the traditional universities moving towards the technological area, if they know what I mean? There is a significant amount of duplication in the country, which concerns me.

They also talk about income. When in the sphere of education, when I hear one talk about income I get a little worried. Education should be a cost on society. I do not see the space for income, except, perhaps, in Ms Lucey's case where one is probably attracting lots of foreign students into the country. I see nothing wrong with her case. That is something I would like to see developed. It will benefit the country overall. Those are the only areas that concern me.

It will take me some time to work my way through Dr. Larkin's comprehensive report, and I thank him. I am anxious to see the follow-ups to which he has referred. If I am wrong, he should correct me, but I think it is the first major study on what is going on in third level in Ireland.

Does Dr. Larkin plan to extend that into the IOT area? One of the areas I am concerned about is the marrying up of the different sectors in Irish education. I brought this up with those who were here last week. I refer to the progression from further education through to third level education, whether in a technology university, an institute of technology or a university. I wonder whether there is any information on the fact that students in Ireland at a further education college can transfer directly to UK-based universities and get credit for the year's study that they would have undertaken in an Irish further education college whereas, traditionally, Irish universities want one to go back two years and start all over again and regard further education as an add-on to a poor leaving certificate. I will leave it at that.