Ms Mary Doyle:

I have a number of comments to make on those issues. It is clear that we have been grappling and continue to do so with the issue raised by Deputy McConalogue, namely, how we get the funding and demand in sync. As we move forward into the reconfiguration, we see that we need to match up and connect what happens in things like configuration, shared services, consolidation and eliminating duplication. We see there is potential in all of those areas to achieve greater efficiencies and effectiveness in the system. We are also acutely aware of the difficult public financial situation which will continue for some years.

There are two main prongs to what we will be doing over the next while. The first, as we have discussed this afternoon, will be the issues of reconfiguration and how that helps us to revitalise and renew the system. A systematic review of the financial sustainability of the system must be connected to that in a very structured way. Part of the work we must do over the next few weeks and months is to put in place systems relating to both those pieces of work and how we join them up. At this point, it is fair to say that unlike the situation that pertained when the Hunt deliberations were ongoing, we know there is a very finite financial envelope so we must try within that reality to think about the best value we can get from the public expenditure and how we support the institutions in the really important work they do in raising money privately.

There are a number of other streams, including the research stream which could and undoubtedly will be of significant potential. The question of international students is another strand. What we must do in the coming weeks and months is look at all of those opportunities and gather them together in an integrated way which helps us get to a point where the system is sustainable in its new configuration in light of the opportunities that technology and other forms of provision of education open up to us and where we are confident that we can ensure the quality of the education outcomes. That is the challenge we face. Over the next while, we will be moving on that agenda substantially.

There are a number of important elements to help us to do that. The first is the performance dialogue that the HEA will enter into with the individual institutions over the next while in respect of their expenditure and the outcomes and role of the HEA in regulating the sector. The HEA's role will change in this context and this will be another piece of the jigsaw. Undoubtedly, we must bring more transparency to the system both in terms of managing the academic workload and reporting on academic performance. When one puts those things together, that is the agenda for the next while. A question was raised about whether there is a connection to further education and the answer is "Yes". There is a landscape there which provides resources for people post leaving certificate. A big job of work is ongoing in the further education sector which will take a lot of time to design and put in place but ultimately there will be a closer connection between higher and further education.

In conclusion, what the Minister and the Department have been trying to do in this process is to bring the maximum amount of clarity to the process, namely, what the objectives for the system are and what the steps in achieving them will be and also to ensure that the process the Government has adopted in the Hunt report is not derailed and that the institutions in particular are clear about the Government's intent in this area and the steps the Government is putting in place to implement this ambitious programme of change.