Professor Diarmuid Hegarty:

On democratisation, I spoke earlier on the need for clearer indicators on progression. As I sit here in Sandymount, three miles to the south west, there is a 99% participation in third level education in Dublin 6. Three miles of me to the north west, there is a 15% participation in higher education in Dublin 17. These figures have not significantly changed since they were first calculated by Dr. Pat Clancy in the 1960s and 1970s. That is the greatest indictment on us all. It is the greatest indictment on the progress of the democratisation of education: we simply have not achieved significant change. That is why I am talking about progress indicators. We need a dashboard setting out indicators and if we do not like the indicators, we need to improve them not to have different indicators. I think there is a problem here. These indicators need to be revisited every year and improved. I am not saying nothing is done but at the same time, there is a significant problem here and a significant shortfall.