Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witness for his earlier reply on the three-year term. Will he comment on whether that should be longer or if it is an appropriate amount of time? This is the second time we have had a session to appoint a chairperson to the agency in this Dáil term. It strikes me that three years could be quite short in a project like this where continuity in a process involving different partners and the role of the chairman in pulling it together and driving it forward is important.

There is a wider issue. This is a tremendous project and it is very exciting. On 21 October 2015, Marty McFly and Doc Brown went back to the future in the film of the same name. I wonder what third level education will look like 20 or 25 years from now, particularly with regard to infrastructure and the campus on which we will place 20,000 people. That is very much needed today but how will it look in 20 or 25 years? Will that big campus model be the same? The witness may not be able to answer but it is interesting.