Dr. Joseph Ryan:

"No" is the answer to the question on central control. I do not think there is any intention for that, but the question is what does the Bill lead us to. Strong autonomous institutions with central support and the ultimate ability of an authority to come in where it is necessary is the goal from a Bill such as this.

On the democratisation question, absolutely, that is the way we would see for our higher education institutions to go. What I would love to see come out of this consideration of the reform is an increase in democratisation. If we respect the landscape that we have now with traditional universities, technological universities, institutes, etc., I think there is a place for everyone in that. We are trying to construct a system where people can move pathways from further to higher education.

I fully agree with the Deputy on her last point. The critical thing when we get down to consider what comes back from Europe on Cassells is ensuring that we facilitate that access into the borrowing framework and construct it in such a way. My reading would be very much on the same lines as the Deputy.