Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would very much appreciate that. I apologise if I have gone on a little too long. My final question is one I have asked before but to which I have not had a response thus far. I appreciate that it is possibly an unusual question. The modified leaving certificate of the past two years has had significant consequences for third level and a significant amount of funding had to be provided to meet extra demand for courses. In the past in an average year, the Department would have known the number of students dropping out in first year as a consequence of making the exact mistake I made in 1995 when I selected the wrong course. I subsequently found the right course and went from there. The dropout rate is measurable. There is a significant amount to be learned from the dropout rate and an analysis of the reasons behind it. The past two years of accredited grades put an awful lot of students into third level who, in other circumstances, might not have been so fortunate. I would like to either prove or disprove that statement and the only analysis apart from the grades at third level is the dropout rate. Such analysis would be helpful, especially in the context of the root and branch reform of senior cycle and the leaving certificate the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, is doing at secondary level. To be fair to him, the Chairman has probably held more than 20 hours of committee hearings in the public eye, not to mention the dozens of hours of work that are done out of view of the public. That analysis would feed into the leaving certificate reform. I am interested to hear the Minister of State's view on that.