Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I asked about UL, but Dr. Wall has answered all my questions. What the witnesses pass on to the Minister is very important. Last year, a memo about elective hospitals went to the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly - it was a whole different committee and a whole different realm - and the memo pretty much spelled out that it should be Dublin, Cork and Galway. Lo and behold, the Minister and the Government accepted the memo as presented; that was it. I think we heard that the witnesses' memo gives an option, and it is very important that that would come to the fore.

I am enthused to hear the witnesses are looking at both regional balance and the pathway into this. There must be more innovative ways than people flying to Wroclaw and Warsaw in Poland to train. The HEA should be talking to the agricultural colleges, if it is not doing so already, and asking them to identify a link pathway from their QQI levels 7 or 8 in order to fast-track. I am a former primary school teacher and people who had Irish language or arts qualifications were able to leapfrog us into the second semester. It happens in many courses and it could happen in veterinary courses.