Mr. William Beausang:

It is hard to be brief on this point to assist the Deputy in the question he has posed. I will be brief and the Deputy can make another contribution later. The Department engaged with the presidents of the two institutions involved in TUSEI in relation to discussions about who could fill that really important leadership role in terms of the driving forward the technological university project in the south-east. There were a number of suggestions from the TUSEI consortium and the Department facilitated engagement. Members of the consortium suggested a number of people who they believed could assist them in driving forward the project, which, as many Deputies will know, has been very challenged over a long period of time.

Briefly, on the particular capacity and capability that Mr. Boland brought to the role, he played a similar role in relation to the Munster Technological University, MTU, another project that encountered quite significant challenges in being delivered. Obviously, I am happy to answer further questions, but we should not lose sight of the strategic importance of achieving delivery of the technological universities and the transformation in the higher education landscape that is involved in that. At previous meetings of this committee, questions legitimately were asked about the length of time it was taking to see the technological universities be designated and come into existence. The kind of role that Mr. Boland played in MTU and in TUSEI, given the progress that has been achieved, demonstrates the importance of that executive leadership role that the Department actually championed with the institutions in terms of their planning.