Dr. Anthony Soares:

I will pick up on two points. The Deputy asked about possible blockages in including this as an area in the North-South Ministerial Council's remit.

On that, I would make two points. Following the St. Andrews Agreement, a review of the areas of co-operation of the North-South Ministerial Council - we are approaching the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement - to include higher and further education within the remit of the North-South Ministerial Council would be ideal timing. We are at that point. An obvious blockage at the moment is there is no Northern Ireland Executive to take its place at the North-South Ministerial Council and, therefore, it is not operating, but including it would show buy-in from the administration in Northern Ireland that it sees mobility in North-South student enrolment and collaboration and co-operation between the higher education and further education sectors North and South, that it is committed to it and that it shows that commitment also in terms of policy. As I referred to in my opening statement, the previous higher education strategy included, as one of its specific projects, project 11 precisely in terms of looking at increasing North-South student mobility. We do not have that anymore and we need that commitment back there again. However, it is a matter of getting that commitment from the administration in Northern Ireland because North-South co-operation needs the two poles. It cannot be just one pole because then it is not North-South co-operation. It has to have the two poles agreeing and committing to that.

With regard to the centralised outreach and information campaign, we have a flagship project within the Centre for Cross Border Studies, the Border People project, which helps people out with their cross-Border lives, including in the area of education. It was established as a project following a 2001 report by the North-South Ministerial Council joint secretariat looking into obstacles to cross-Border mobility. The Border People project came out of that. It includes information for people wishing to study in the other jurisdiction.

It is a confused picture. It needs resourcing. It needs some kind of focus and a strategic approach to give students, North and South, the correct information on the opportunities available to them in the other jurisdiction.