Ms Anne McHugh:

In regard to the City and Guilds qualifications, we do not know if there will be a problem with the acceptance or recognition of awards in the two different jurisdictions. Most of our work is with QQI but we do some with City and Guilds and some specialised work with other providers. It is an area on which we will have to work. We will have to work far harder in terms of QQI and ensure we re-engage with it fully in a timely fashion. I do not know how that will pan out but we need to start working on it now.

In terms of the effect on the Irish colleges, I made the point earlier that, based on my research of schools in my area, most higher education students are going to third level in the South of Ireland. In 2016, 1,960 Irish students were in higher education in the UK at either undergraduate or postgraduate level. That is not a huge number. It is borne out by my figures. Students are going to Northern Ireland to participate in further education, not necessarily higher education. Students are pursuing further education in Northern Ireland for reasons such as geography, economics or situations such as a child in Carndonagh knowing a person who will give him or her a lift into Derry every day whereas the bus to Letterkenny would drop him or her at the bus station, which would leave too long a walk to get to his or her destination. The decisions are down to issues such as local geography and the complex links that exist along the Border.

I will speak in particular about Donegal, which does not have a dedicated PLC college. That is the first port of call for our further education students. If they are not going to a third level college they are going into further education in a PLC college. We have been talking with our local institute to see about locating a PLC college on its grounds. We are trying to think outside the box in that regard to see what we can do to provide places for our further education students. As Mr. Michael Moriarty said, the feeling is we will be getting a lot more of them staying in the South from now on. That is our big challenge. A lot of it is down to geography and economics and finances within families in those areas.