Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 8 December 2022
Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement
Architects of the Good Friday Agreement (Resumed): Mr. John Bruton
Mr. John Bruton:
Absolutely. The Erasmus programme has done that for the European Union. In fact, if some young people are asked, “What is good about the EU?”, the only thing that they can come up with is the Erasmus programme, which of course displays a lack of knowledge on their part, but it also shows the importance of what the Deputy is saying about links in education. One of the worrying thing is the extent to which people from unionist population are getting their third level education in Britain rather than in Ireland, including in Northern Ireland. That is sort of deracinating. It is not in our interest that there should not be well educated, confident, intelligent leadership amongst unionists because if we want to do business with them, we want them to be people who are confident in themselves. However, if they go to university in London,York, Strathclyde or somewhere like that and then get a job in the Scottish Civil Service and are never seen again, they are not making the sort of contribution that they could make to this island. That is an interest as well. I am not as familiar as the Deputy is with the legislation she was quoting, but it sounds like a good idea.
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