Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome everyone. I will dig straight into it and pick up a point that was mentioned in response to Deputy O'Callaghan. The shared island unit was referenced. Will the witnesses spell out the benefits that have accrued from that unit, North and South, since it was established, if they can speak to that?

When I was a student, I did my BA degree in my home county of Cork, which was natural enough. I went on to do two postgraduate courses. Whether it was my fault or that of my institution, at that time, Northern Ireland was never considered or was never an option for me; neither was Dublin for that matter. As I said, it may have been down to ignorance, or lack of knowledge or information, but it was something I never considered.

Professor McKenna spoke about the present difficulty around accommodation, for example, in addition to fees, grants and the basic nuts and bolts. If a student from the South is looking at the North as an option, what will he or she expect as regards fees and grants? From the reverse perspective, what do students in the North think when they look at the South?