Mr. Jim Miley:

Someone referred to loans earlier. We recognise that a significant proportion of students take out loans to get themselves through college. That is a reality. What we do not have is a structured loan scheme, as in Australia and elsewhere. The political debate on that is probably near to twilight, if I am reading the tea leaves correctly. In dealing with the substantive funding question, which we understand is coming to the table soon, I would simply come back to the point that the fact of the matter is that a cohort of students is going to college who are stretched and finding it difficult to cope. We also know that another cohort is not getting access to college due to financial constraints. In dealing with the funding question, we have to have that front and centre. We also have to have front and centre that there is a cohort of families and students who can afford to pay. Many of them are paying €6,000 to €12,000 a year for secondary school and then going on to third level. The fairness equation needs to apply across the spectrum. Our system needs to deal with that appropriately.