Professor Ciar?n ? h?gartaigh:

Mr. Purser answered the first question on maths very well. As he mentioned, it was seen as outside the scope of the consideration on cross-Border mobility by the working group. As he said, that is not a reason not to revisit it at some stage. My memory is that it was a public policy issue at the time. I think Ruairí Quinn was the Minister who was keen on it, as were the universities, for the reasons Mr. Purser pointed out.

We discussed language at the working group chaired by Pól Ó Dochartaigh. The outcomes were as the Deputy suggested. One was that we feel, as a European country, languages should be taken by more students. That was an issue for the Northern Ireland system to address. A corollary to that is potentially that languages are important for the subject the students take. It was more a philosophical issue that languages are increasingly important for students to take and for increasing international understanding. There is an argument that part of the reason Brexit was successful is that the education system in the UK - in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in particular - does not have the breadth of understanding of languages and other cultures and so on. That was the basis for it. We had that discussion. There was some acceptance of that by those with whom Pól Ó Dochartaigh and the working group spoke in Northern Ireland. That is the background. There was a feeling more students should take languages at second level and it should be encouraged in a European context.