Dr. Sheila Flanagan:

In response to Senator O'Reilly, obviously, one is interested in increasing capacity where possible. To build on what Dr. Mulvey has said, through a targeted marketing campaign over the past number of years we have got into schools that previously we would never have been able to access. The doors are now open. They are interested in hearing what we have on offer because parents want their children to stay within the region. They want them to be educated within the region. They want the opportunity for them to gain employment within the region. Those are the drivers we are finding on the ground. The opportunities are there if we can access the schools directly and attend the UCAS fair. This year has been particularly difficult because we have not been able to go out and into the field and attend the fairs we would normally attend and visit the schools that we would normally visit. Hopefully, that will return to normal next year.

One quick simple solution in terms of easing access to Dundalk and all of the colleges would be a bit of a relaxation in CAO dates. This year, for example, the offers coming out from UCAS will happen on 10 August. The CAO, we are led to believe, is likely to begin making offers on 17 August. If I am a student in Newry, for example, who is interested in coming to Dundalk and if I get my offer for the University of Ulster, Southern Regional College or Queens on 10 August, I am more likely to take it out of having a sense of security than to wait a further ten days for the CAO offer to come. If we could make early offers to students from Northern Ireland that are comparable with UCAS or round zero offers in areas of lower demand - I accept totally that in the high-demand areas such as medicine, nursing, veterinary medicine etc., that is difficult and there are capacity issues as these are high demand areas - there are plenty of areas where there is capacity and we have the space to take such students. With a focus on those areas and moving our offer dates back to match with UCAS, that would be a simple quick win.

The second area where we could increase capacity and build a more long-term partnership is through working with the colleges of higher and further education in Northern Ireland.

For example, we are currently working with Cavan Institute, Southern Regional College and Drogheda Institute of Further Education, DIFE. Any limitations we might have on-site in Dundalk with regard to capacity could be eased by further collaboration with our friends and partners in those colleges and by creating networks of student mobility. The Border does not exist, and I am sure our friends in Letterkenny would say the same, when it comes to this type of mobility. The limitations on capacity can be eased if we work together in this way. Landscape funding has been hugely helpful in developing that type of initiative. Whether that is replaced through the shared island initiative or a dedicated fund for colleges on the Border, such as ourselves and Letterkenny, to work to increase capacity, it is much needed.