Professor Ciar?n ? h?gartaigh:

I will start in reverse order. Mr. Hannigan will address the question on the recognition of awards below degree level.

The letter to the North-South Ministerial Council has just been sent so we have not yet received a response. It is clear that it depends also on what happens at Stormont and with the Executive there as what happens there will impact on the North-South Ministerial Council.

We believe a particularly important initiative that could be taken in the context of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement is extension of the scope of the work. Education clearly has benefits that are cross-community. It is largely uncontroversial to have that as part of the work. We have not yet received a response. That letter was sent just last week.

On equivalence of recognition, the CAO is effectively the entry requirement, as I said, for universities to consider. It is also a bilateral matter. It is not only for IUA members but members of Universities Ireland in the North to consider how we translate A-levels to leaving certificate and vice versa. I put that on the agenda of our next meeting and we will progress it. I have already spoken to our registrar, Professor Pól Ó Dochairtaigh, who was the chair of the CAO and represents the University of Galway on the CAO. He is open to that and to thinking about how the original analysis was limited by not looking at participation rates, as I mentioned, North and South and how those might change.

The Deputy answered her question around next steps for the Department. That research and analysis would be very useful. On how we might work together in promoting North-South mobility and where the key pinch points are, we believe guidance counsellors are critical. Where we find ourselves in schools across communities, we could encourage guidance counsellors to encourage students to think more about those options. Cross-Border is the first step. The second, as Mr. Purser mentioned, is the investment that was committed to under Funding the Future, which is critical to parity of experience throughout the island of Ireland. Third, the Department has a particular role to play in that North-South ministerial element. The Minister also has a role to play. That third piece is about whether an Erasmus-type funding programme would be considered. Students going from Ireland to the EU get Erasmus funding and scholarships. It would be very interesting to see whether there could be support for something similar North-South. It might be for a semester or a year but it would certainly increase mobility, which is the purpose of the report. The three elements are research around what the pinch points are; support through the North-South Ministerial Council; and investment, particularly in-----