Ms Mary Doyle:

Ireland has a strong legislative framework of quality control in education, particularly medical education. The number of bodies involved in this discussion is testament to that reality. At the heart of the overall approach to education and quality assurance is the establishment of standards and verification of whether individual institutions are meeting these standards. In my statement I set out the processes by which this was implemented. It is clear that it is widespread in terms of the number of organisations involved and the high level of academic achievement among those involved in qualifications assessment.

On the points raised by Senator Averil Power, I must reiterate the Government's position on Bahrain and the RCSI's presence there. The Government draws a distinction between the actions of the Bahraini authorities and the benefits of delivery by the RCSI of medical education in that country. It has not called for the RCSI to pull out of Bahrain.