Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the question of international students which has been raised on a number of occasions today, I commit to the joint committee Chairman to obtaining a detailed briefing note for the committee. While we may not have final figures for another while, we should be able to provide the committee with indicative figures of this type and I will be happy to do that. We will revert to the committee in the month of August before the committee reconvenes.

On contingency planning, there is always planning of this type. I am nervous even saying that because straightaway some people - not Deputy O’Sullivan - will misinterpret or suggest that we are not fully committed to getting people back safely. We are. The Taoiseach himself in his address to the nation said that he wants students back on college campuses. We have deemed it essential and have ring-fenced €105 million to make it happen and we have a public health endorsement for our plan. There is always, however, contingency planning.

The beauty of our framework this year is that it is not all or nothing. It is not a question of whether everything or nothing can happen on site but is a question of a scale as to what can happen on site. That is where the contingency plan really lies. If it does not become possible to do some of the larger gatherings that one would wish to do in a lecture hall, perhaps that piece can then happen in a blended way but that does not mean the whole college will go off-line and it being a case of “We’ll see you next year”. The tutorials and classrooms will still happen, the libraries will stay open, the societies, clubs and sports will happen in line with public health advice so that every single student has a reason and opportunity to be on campus. That is the prize we are all working day and night to achieve.