Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister very much. I will conclude on this. He is absolutely right about that pathway towards a career rather than just an entry based on whatever misguided views a person had as he or she approached his or her leaving certificate. Perhaps it is a good job for all of us that the title "politician" is not on the CAO form.

Overall, from a whole-of-government perspective, is the Minister content that enough work is done to effectively look at the number of places versus the opportunities that exist, particularly within our health sector? We all get lobbied on an ongoing basis about the difficulties of being unable to fill funded positions. We hear about nurses who are in Australia. I understand from a practical point of view that nurses, when they are trained, will spend some time in Australia, and healthcare professionals will go to Canada. That mobility is really good, forward thinking to get the best education. In terms of our output, however, we hear about it in dentistry, orthodontics and medicine generally. Is the Minister, therefore, content that we are training enough professionals to meet the demands and projected demands?

This country is often talked about as being short-sighted when it comes to forward planning. For forward planning purposes, we will know based on population growth and on medicine generally what the expected number of various different professionals will be. Are we doing enough work at third level, or maybe even at second level, to get that trajectory right?