Mr. Tom Boland:

I do not have the figures either. Certainly I know that many academics do consultancies of various kinds for private and public bodies. In the case of some of the senior academics there is scope in their contracts for them to carry out that type of work. I do not know and I am not sure I would even be able to find out the scale of it. When the HEA is seeking advice on issues we are obviously very happy to engage with people in the sector or recently departed from the sector. I will give two good examples. Professor Áine Hyland did a background paper on the teacher education review. Mr. Jim Devine, the former president of the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art and Design, did a background paper for the creative arts review in Dublin. So we use the expertise in the sector as much as we can.