Professor John O'Brennan:

This begins in secondary school. Even in primary school there is a good programme called the blue star programme, which has been in place for quite a long time and does good work. It has been absent from secondary schools but things have changed. The introduction of the politics and society programme at leaving certificate level is a fantastic development. There is a good European component built into the curriculum and some schools are organising the kind of trips I talked about. In years to come I expect many more schools to be engaged in taking on politics and society. It started as a pilot programme and it has been extended. If we could start there and help the teachers who are teaching the politics and society programme, for example by subsidising the kind of field trips to Brussels I talked about, we would go a long way to encouraging those students to think about doing a university course that would forward their ambitions to take on an international role and to consider applying for the concours. It does not begin with the universities. We must begin at second level and build from there.