Mr. Michael Horgan:

Let me tell the committee about the position of chief executive officer. The interim CEO, Dr. Anne Looney, is present. She has very kindly taken up the post on a short-term contract and will be starting as head of the new institute of education in DCU in January or February. A competition was held in February or March this year, but nobody was appointed. The day before yesterday we started the competition to find a new chief executive officer which is a key position. There are two major things that I will push to have done. I will push for the recruitment of a new chief executive officer and a new strategic plan for the Higher Education Authority. These are two major issues. We hope to advertise for a new CEO sometime in the next few weeks and that we will have a name by about December. It will then be a matter for the person to be appointed to give notice as to when he or she can start. We might also have to negotiate with Dr. Looney and perhaps DCU at that stage.