Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It is like the old adage that people care about what they measure and measure what they care about. Academic excellence is obviously extremely important but WIT, for example, which is the closest institution to me, is extremely and rightfully proud of the fact that many of its entrants are the first people in their families to go on to third level. That is an important outcome as well. I allowed myself a wry smile earlier when Senator Dolan was talking about national hairdressing standards under the QQI. The pandemic haircuts I administered to my children would have attained no qualification under the sun but what happened in lockdown stays in lockdown.