Professor Pádraig Ó Duibhir:

I will keep the committee in suspense for a moment, if I may, to address Senator Ruane's question about the teaching of Irish. The type of concurrent programme we are developing in Gaeilge and languages is to address these types of issues in order to produce language teachers from the very first day of their four-year university programme, education and languages running concurrently. They will spend time abroad and in the Gaeltacht and there will be a strong emphasis on how to teach language.

Does the Department of Education and Skills listen to us? At primary level, the Department determines the numbers that go into primary teaching when it comes to the publicly funded colleges. The Department therefore determines our B.Ed. and professional master of education numbers. If there is a shortage, the Department can lift the cap or increase the numbers. It does not cost the Department anything to increase the numbers doing our professional master of education, the two-year postgraduate programme, because we get no subvention. While Hibernia does not get a subvention, neither do publicly-funded colleges for their professional master of education programmes, so there is no extra cost to the State. We currently have 60 students. The Department could up that to allow us to take in double that number and it would not cost a penny.