Professor Diarmuid Hegarty:

That is a good point. I will first address the Deputy's question on student loans. One of the things that concerns me is that because student loans have become so politically divisive and the subject so toxic, anybody who makes a suggestion in that connection is viewed as a purveyor of poison. In fact, I would be completely supportive of Donogh O'Malley's decision on free secondary education. We all see the benefit of that now. I am also completely supportive of the point made by the Deputy. The very fact that he could get access to third level and become a primary teacher and now represents his constituents in the Houses of the Oireachtas is testament enough to the benefit of that education. He should not get me wrong on that. In the context of the proposal we have made, we are talking about loans at the margin that would help people who could not otherwise take advantage because their family would not be able to support them or to suffer the income sacrifice to get them through third level. That is what we are proposing. We are not proposing a student loan system that acts in replacement of the existing grants. This can be done. It can be done with European support. I have no doubt about that. The money is there in Europe and a structure needs to be established to avail of it.

On the issue of cost rental, Mr. Miley made a very good point earlier. It is linked to the overall housing market. The sums are not right now but it may be the case that with some kind of joint venture arrangements involving private funding and public funding - State support that is delivered and adhered to, rather than State support that is promised and then withdrawn - it might be possible to square that circle. I would encourage developers, the State and the institutions to discuss options.

I refer to the Deputy's question on skills and preparing people for the right things. Ironically, the Deputy can point to the fact that he became a primary school teacher and then suddenly there was a surplus of primary school teachers, but the skill set he was given in terms of dealing with parents and young children stands to him today. We need to recognise that people's lives will change. People will change. Most people coming out of college now will have 15 different jobs in the course of their working lives and it will be impossible to prepare them for every one of those but we have to give them transversal skills. We have to give them the skills that enable them to effectively self-educate and transfer from job to job. They will need all these skills of dealing with people, acquiring knowledge and communicating. I could continue that list at length but the real point is that we need education to actually develop the individual personal skills. It is the most important thing. If that is done, the graduates will be equipped to make the transfers they-----