Dr. Fergal Barry:

I wish to add to Professor Donnelly's point to give a sense of the block grant for research. It is approximately €200 million. We would not be seeking anything like that as a sector although we would welcome it. It allows universities to participate in co-financed European programmes. I refer to those programmes that require matched funding of 50%, 75% or 25%. We are excluded from participating in those. Again, the absence of the barring framework and a bloc grant for research and development prohibits us from leveraging and gearing up the finances of our organisations.