Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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No, I do not want a written answer. The point of public hearings is that the witnesses are asked questions in order to provide answers in public, in camera, for the people outside watching. It is an indictment of the Department of Education and Skills that it did not have the capacity to send anybody here to answer questions, with full knowledge of the fact that these issues have been aired numerous times before. The facts are that are minutes of the HEA board showing that the board recommended almost unanimously that this should not happen. The policy decision of the Department was to go ahead. As we heard, it will probably start later on this year. The issue here is this. I asked a direct question. In that scenario, the Department dismissed the HEA.