Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I know very little about this subject but I have one question for the witnesses. Professor O'Néill just spoke about the phenomenal scale of the research at Magee campus. We have such good universities throughout this island. I have observed some changes in the last 20 years or so. I went to college with a lot of students from the North. The change in the number of A levels required for admission from three to four was significantly offputting. Why would a student study for four A levels when he or she could study for three and get into a top university in Northern Ireland or another part of the UK? We have lost that influx of students and the associated opportunities to share and get to know people. That is missing from undergraduate courses all across this part of the island.

Could the witnesses outline the nature of cross-Border collaboration on any big projects with any of the universities here? What is the nature of those relationships? The scale of what the witnesses' institutions are doing is wonderful and it would be lovely to hear about links with other universities on specific projects.