Mr. Michael Gillespie:

As I said before, the CAO points are based on a supply and demand system, whereas suitability for finishing a course should be based on much wider things, including the subjects someone picks. People sometimes pick subjects just to maximise points, rather than the subjects they need in order to progress in college. It would be interesting to research how many people failed first year because they had the incorrect leaving certificate subjects for the subjects they picked up in college. We should be looking at people doing subjects or even PLC courses that will prepare them for subject choices in college. We are focusing on college as being the only route into employment whereas there are other routes, including apprenticeships and the earn to learn model, which is one of the scarcities we have now. There is a huge scarcity of people going into that area and a deficit in employment there because we do not have enough people to even continue the green agenda in terms of all that is required there. A whole variety of things can be used there.