Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy understands, the lead Department in responding is the Department of Education and Skills. The Minister and his officials are responding and engaging with me on their current and capital needs as part of the normal Estimates process. I am trying to reconcile this with the fact that everybody else is doing the same.

On the Cassells report, the Minister has not yet come forward or identified what he believes is the leading option. The report poses a challenge for the Oireachtas and the response rests with all of us if we believe the higher and further education sectors will be the engines of future productivity and employment, not to mention the learning from which we all benefit. How will we pay for it, if other countries are paying in other ways? I expect the Minister to come forward in due course and identify what he believes is the main option and the best way to do it. Ultimately, it will require the support of more than the Government to make it happen. It could be one of the many litmus tests of the new political approach on which people expect the Oireachtas to deliver.