Mr. Garrett Murray:

The central question is whether it is strategic or operational and actually happening. On a strategic level, there is an enormous amount being done with education and probably more than I have ever seen in my time in the agencies, particularly on the national skills fora. On a regional level, they have brought the agencies - Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and others - and our regional representatives, the colleges and, most importantly, the companies together. It is not just us going into the colleges saying we need X, Y and Z in the region; it is building the relationship between the companies and the colleges so they are listening to each other. We take the view that in the past the colleges have listened a bit more to FDI companies because they are larger in many cases. We are trying to shift that relationship.

On Senator Craughwell's point about funding for the ITs, the HEA is currently doing its review of funding for the higher education sector. In our submission to that, we will be saying the importance of the ITs in terms of research is critical for SMEs. That is not to say it is not important for universities but we want to strengthen the relationship with the local ITs. The regional skills fora have worked quite successfully in this regard and we are fairly happy with the structures.