Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The witnesses were asked several comprehensive questions. There is not much left for me. I would like to thank them for telling us that there are opportunities. This is the first group that has come before this committee and said that there are opportunities and we need to be looking for them. That is vitally important to the country.

I am a little bit concerned when we start talking about Ireland as the English-speaking member of the European community. Last summer I spent some time at a conference in Georgia, in the Caucasus. Everybody in the hotel I stayed in spoke perfect English. English is widely spoken in all of those countries, as well as in Germany. The only country that really hangs onto its language is France. Perhaps that is a cultural thing; I am not sure. On one hand I am a little concerned that we are using English as a marketing tool but on the other hand, it opens the door for people who are already fluent in the language to come here.

The Irish Universities Association referred to the accommodation problem and the growth in foreign demand for places in Irish universities. I would respectfully suggest that if some of those studying in university took up apprenticeships, which might be more suitable to their careers, we might have a few more places. If we ever achieve peer equivalence between university qualifications and apprenticeships, we might solve some of the accommodation problem.

In the last few days I listened to an interview about the investment in research in this country. It might have been with Professor Ferguson. This afternoon Professor Ferguson has frequently made the point that there are so many other calls on the public purse. The point made in that interview was that investment in research and development is an investment in the future. We seem to have failed to get that message across. I did not see any provision for research in the €190 million that was allocated to further and higher education yesterday. This budget was about marking time and trying to hold the horses at bay. I do not see anything in it.

Would North-South collaboration be taking place if there was an assembly in the morning? If the assembly fell apart in six months, would the collaboration collapse as well, or would continued collaboration on each project be guaranteed? Bilateral agreements were mentioned. People in this illustrious establishment tend to get very uptight and hung up about the word "bilateral" in relation to the UK and state that we do not do that sort of thing. Could we enter into bilateral agreements under the auspices of the Good Friday Agreement, rather than as a rogue country stepping outside the EU 27? I believe the Good Friday Agreement provides a vehicle by which we could have bilateral agreements. I would be interested in the witnesses' views on this.

I was delighted to hear somebody say for the first time ever in this room that the common travel area is not underpinned by law in either the UK or Ireland. Some of universities in Scotland offer free education. I have sent several students to Scotland over the years. Will they be treated as foreign nationals in a future arrangement? If so, what sort of funding will this country have to provide in order to continue to send students to the UK?

I will throw one or two other issues in. Professor Ferguson mentioned the recruitment opportunities, particularly the collaboration between the University of Oxford and University College Cork. That is fantastic. Will that type of collaboration between two different systems run into HR difficulties? Will there be problems with pensions, which will be a vital issue for everybody involved? How will we jointly fund the pensions for those who come across in those areas?

Finally, I was looking at the figures concerning research as a proportion of GDP. It is absolutely disgraceful that we are so far down the scale. It is very hard to justify spending on research. It is like advertising; 50% is vitally important for the future of the country. I note we are slipping down the international scale. That will impact the students coming to Ireland from foreign countries, including from other European countries. They want to be among the top ten institutions. They want to go to the best universities. We cannot be the best unless we attract what one of the witnesses referred to as "top talent". Unless we bring in the top talent, we will not bring in the understudies, that is, the PhD students who carry out this research.

Foreign direct investment is a big concern in Ireland. I sometimes wonder about it. The other day I read the curriculum vitae of a person involved in a multinational company. This person holds a masters degree and for all intents and purposes, her job is nothing more than customer service over the phone. Some of the IT companies are now saying they no longer want people with degrees as they can train their own people. I perceive the foreign firms that invest here as consumers of our human capital.

How much engagement has there been with them on research and development, specifically product development? Pharmaceutical companies here tend to be more focused on manufacturing than on research and development. IT companies tend to be more engaged in technical and customer support than research and development. Some of the IT companies in this country were writing software but I do not think they do so any longer. These are general questions. I am sorry if they fall slightly outside the topic of Brexit but I think they are all relevant.