Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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We will commence the public session. Apologies have been received from Deputy Joe O’Reilly, Mark Durkan and Alasdair McDonnell. I remind members, guests and those in the public gallery please to ensure that their mobile phones, iPhones, Blackberries, etc., are switched off completely for the duration of the meeting. If people want to leave them in silent mode they can leave them on the floor, where allegedly they will not interfere with the sound system. I ask, however, that they respect this instruction and ensure that they are switched off completely.

Today we will continue our consideration of cross-Border co-operation in education. I am delighted that Dr. Stephen Farry, Minister for Employment and Learning in the Northern Ireland Executive is here with us today. We hope to have a good engagement and conversation with him. This subject is not new to the committee. We have highlighted education as an area worthy of consideration and we would like to explore where there are synergies and integrated strategies in education with mutual benefits. This is a pragmatic committee which prefers practical and common-sense solutions.

On behalf of the committee I welcome Dr. Stephen Farry. We are also joined by Mr. Chris Andrews and Ms Judith Shaw from the education division of the Northern Ireland Department for Employment and Learning. Our witnesses are all very welcome.

The committee has held a series of meetings to consider cross-Border co-operation in education. We have already met with our Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, the presidents of the institutes of technology in the Border region - Sligo, Letterkenny and Dundalk - and with St. Angela’s and the University of Ulster teacher training colleges. On our regular visits to Northern Ireland we have noted how educational attainment impacts on the progress of many communities, as we see in our constituencies here in the South. We look forward to Dr. Farry’s contribution and to exploring with him the potential for synergies to enhance co-operation in this very important area.

Before Dr. Farry makes his presentation it is important to point out that we have one common political ground, North and South, which is the challenge of youth unemployment. We need a twenty-first century third level system to adapt to the changing needs, be it in industry or employment trends. That is an area in which researchers in all our universities North and South can work together. We look forward to hearing Dr. Farry’s contribution and no doubt committee members will make their own observations and suggestions.