Dr. Ian Jones:

I would also be complimentary of Springboard. It has been a very good partner with us. There is an opportunity in terms of broadening it to the at-risk group to which I referred, namely, people who may be about to be made redundant or who are in an at-risk or industry category. It could also be broadened to those who have a degree but are working in a corner shop and are stuck in a cycle whereby they cannot pursue a Springboard course unless they are unemployed but they do not want to be unemployed because they want to keep some money coming in. There is an opportunity for the category of people earning no more than €23,000 or €24,000 per year to further their education and career prospects by entering programmes such as ours by means of a Springboard-funded vehicle. That is another group in which we are very interested, as well as the emigrant group.

It is expensive to get our word out in Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Dubai or wherever, but there is a real opportunity to do so. We have dipped our toe in the water through Facebook in trying to attract people home and that has worked. People have returned from New Zealand, Australia and Canada in order to access our programmes. It is a small percentage because we have not marketed it sufficiently abroad. We are interested in attracting that cohort, as well as the groups that are at risk, those on lower wages of pay who should not be forgotten about - there are great opportunities for them to develop in their careers - and the emigrant Irish.