Professor Ciar?n ? h?gartaigh:

It is inherently about it. I mentioned in our response that the staff-student ratio in GB and UK universities generally is 12:1. Even with the investment in funding for the future, which is aiming for about 15:1, it will still be higher here. There is nothing more that defines student experience, research and teaching than the staff-student ratio. One can talk about many other issues. However, I would simply say that the UK system - though it is not perfect and those within it would find many faults in it - has an international reputation based on a solid investment over generations that we have not yet had. I have often said, again this is putting on the Universities Ireland hat in a way, that the free second level education and the investment in education that came here in the 1960s is now bearing fruit. There is a new opportunity now to invest further in the next generation, which is higher and further education. We await that ambition. We await that to come to fruition. If I was to put my finger on one thing, I would say it is that.

On the rail review, I will take off my Universities Ireland hat and put on my University of Galway hat. Many students, not only in Galway but generally, are now commuting because the cost of accommodation is so high. That means they are travelling a lot and do not have the same student experience as they otherwise should have. It is disruptive to their lives as students. Ease of access and ease of transport would facilitate that much better. Instead of Feda O’Donnell bus or cars leaving Galway on a Thursday evening, why not a train or another mode of transport? There is a theory in Galway, as the Senator knows, and I am sure it is the same in other cities, that part of the congestion is students commuting. Public transport is a key part of the answer to that not only in Galway, but cross-Border as well.

The eastern economic corridor, from Belfast to Dublin, is well served.

As I said to the Chairman before the meeting, I was a member of an informal, non-statutory board of the Saolta University Health Care Group. When we looked at Letterkenny vis-à-vis Galway for healthcare, we found it was easier to get from Letterkenny to Dublin than it was to get from Letterkenny to Galway. That is an issue for regional development, whereby connections should exist between Letterkenny, Sligo and Galway, and public transport would be a key part of that.

On the question about leaving certificate equivalence, we fully agree. That has created an issue that may, simply, be one reason numbers have fallen in recent years. Leaving certificate points have increased as a consequence of grade inflation, whereas A-level grades have not increased to the same extent. That could be a very simple explanation for the numbers having decreased in recent years.