Mr. William Beausang:

The Department is just a facilitator or somebody opening the door to individuals for the two institutes. There were four individuals that had been identified for us as meeting their requirements. We were just involved in initial discussions. If any of those individuals wished to proceed further, we would have got them in touch with the two institutes to work through the formal arrangements in terms of appointment, procurement and whatever else. That was the Department's role in context.

The Deputy also asked about the role going forward. That is a role in the context of the transition and developing an application, working with stakeholders to ensure that application is as strong as possible. It is not an ongoing role. It is completely distinct from the set of matters around the kind of structure that the new technological universities will need to put in place to meet the very ambitious objectives that the Government will have set for them and which they have set for themselves through their own work and strategies.