Professor John O'Brennan:

I suspect there is not. However, Europe has only recently been made an addition to the second level curriculum. It was certainly ad hocif not completely absent prior to five years ago. This is something very recent. I suspect that the politics and society representative teachers' group will know a lot more about this. They may well be arguing for that within their own system. I suspect that is a very difficult argument to make in the current context. As the Chair rightly suggested, the recruitment problem within our schools is reaching a really difficult point. Schools may well be in the position where they are cancelling career breaks of all kinds, so it might not be the right time. Looking forward, however, I do not think there is any doubt that if you have people who have been immersed in that kind of environment for a period, what they bring back to the classroom in terms of experiential learning is invaluable.

On the issue of translators and interpreters, it is three languages. It is a very welcome addition in Brussels that we now have our own official language.