Professor Emer Smyth:

There are two points to make there. Despite the massive expansion of higher education in Ireland, there are still very strong differences relating to social class and background, particularly as regards entry to elite professional courses like medicine, law and so on. Those of upper middle-class backgrounds are over-represented on these courses. While it may not be as apparent, when we look at educational inequality in Northern Ireland, that is, how much your parents' education influences your education, we find much stronger inequality in Northern Ireland than in Ireland. Part of the reason for this is selection resulting in patterns of early school leaving and another part may be the migration we talked about. Really highly qualified young people do not come back to the system so the pool of graduates is smaller.