Professor Brian Norton:

That was not the model that prevailed. We are not party to the consortium but my understanding is that the institutes did not contribute to the Irish research library. Their contributions were paid for by the HEA and SFI. The participants in the Irish research library consortium did not pay a subscription for the service, rather it was a service provided to them. Continuing with the same model for those joining, additional resources would have had to be provided to that consortium. I should point out that we are not part of that consortium and so how it is organised is not something we would be familiar with.