Mr. Martin Marjoram:

Ms Griffin expressed very well the fact that we share the optimism for technological universities for all that there are challenges that remain. One thing, for instance, is that we certainly do not want the TUs to lose the really strong grip that they had on the teaching and learning side and the very strong relationship we had with the students. On the Chairman's basic point, if we look at our own history, what has lifted this country is education. It has been well expressed here in terms of that investment. Would we have gotten anywhere near where we are but for very progressive decisions that were made regarding second level education 50-odd years ago? We would not. We would still be scrabbling around with a very poor economy. None of the things that the Chairman rightly pointed to, such as proper healthcare and housing, are achievable without that base of education that generates the kind of economic activity and the kind of society that lifts us all. That is the very strong point. TUs give us an opportunity now to do better with regard to those who have not been coming to third level previously, to improve the pathways from further education into third level and into a qualification that is viewed on a par with a third-level qualification, and that adds that value to the local community. That is one great thing about technological universities, which the Chairman highlighted, is their regional remit and the fact that they can lift the region around them. There is very strong evidence, and it has been pointed to previously, that every euro spent on education multiplies in a local community. For example, I saw a study on Letterkenny Institute of Technology, which was scoring highest on this. Every euro spent was bringing €6 along with it. That is the argument. I know it has been repeated, but there is no point in trying to make up a better argument for something that is fundamentally true and totally backed up by our own history.