Ms Mary Doyle:

I will take the points as they were raised. On the important point of demographic projections, there has been a revision of the projections in reference to the figures set out in the Hunt report. Work subsequently was completed with the Department in collaboration with the ESRI and the recently-published ESRI report sets out the revised projections. While the increases are on a smaller scale than those set out in the Hunt report, they still are highly significant. We face a highly significant increase of more than 12% by 2015 or 2016 and of 20% by 2020. Consequently, the scale of the task remains very large. Moreover, as Deputy McConalogue asked in his next question, the question regarding the solutions to the funding of the present system and the estimated additional demand is key to this issue. The Deputy also asked about costings and savings expected and this clearly is an area on which we have been focusing strongly for some time. Most observers would agree there undoubtedly are costings and savings to be got from looking in detail at the existing system and to making sure that all fragmentation of courses and duplication are eliminated. The HEA and the Department are about to enter a formal process to examine where the expenditure that already is in the system lies and to try to think through, in a strategic way, what are the best solutions for the higher education institutions and for the service they provide.

Part of the system of reconfiguration leads me into a third point made by Deputy pertaining to the future of the institutes of technology, IT, sector. As members are aware, there are two main elements to the higher education sector at present and a real focus and a real contribution is made from the IT sector. In his speech last week, the Minister set out a programme of change for the sector in which he indicated that he envisaged in the first instance that stronger, larger, regionally-based institutions would be the first port of call for the sector and he encouraged the leaders of the institutions to think about what needs to be done to achieve this. The strength of the IT sector in meeting the needs of the local economy, local businesses and local people is immense and must be enhanced, developed and valued in that process. Moreover, the focus on the development of the regional clusters will allow this to happen in a structured way. I believe the Deputy rightly stated this is a sector that must be valued and the contribution of which to the economy and local society is enormous and that this must be safeguarded within the process. The process for designating ITs that make application for technical university status already has been set out and will be implemented in accordance with the strict criteria.

The numbers involved within the higher education section were mentioned. In recent years there has been a significant reduction in staff numbers, while an increased number of students has been catered for. This has been one of the big successes in the sector. There is flexibility for individual institutions to fill posts they require to have filled while staying within the ECF ceiling on numbers and also to retrain those whose skills are no longer required.

Deputy Michael Colreavy raised a number of points. Public service pay is an issue that is being addressed centrally. I understand there is a meeting this afternoon to discuss these issues and that the education sector is part of that process. Discussions on productivity in a number of areas will be held in the coming period.

The Deputy also mentioned the need to take on board the potential of technology to achieve quicker and better education outcomes. We have been thinking about this issue, about which Mr. Boland will say a little more. We agree on the need to use technology and have some interesting examples from around the world. It is important to provide a better education experience and greater access. It needs to be subsumed into the overall process of change in a structured and dynamic way.

The Deputy also asked about the ICT skills project. There is a new call for proposals to start early in 2013. My colleague, Ms Forde, can outline the position in more detail, if the committee so wishes.

The designation of the technical universities is an important issue. A process has been outlined and it will be followed closely by the Department and the HEA in making designations.