Mr. John Irwin:

The projects we were involved with at local level in the midlands would be similar to those offered by Errigal College in Donegal. We had the opportunity to engage with groups such as Midland Science, which taps into the local community. Ericsson approached our school because it could not recruit enough graduates. It came to the schools and to Midland Science to ask how it could work with the schools. Midland Science, formerly Atlantic Corridor, acted as a go-between between the company and the school to help co-ordinate all of that. Having access to those types of groups, which have a particular focus on STEM, is highly beneficial. It created the links between Ericsson, the schools and what was then Athlone IT, which developed bespoke programmes that students could transfer into and then move on to bespoke master's programmes. It was dealing with local demands and local needs. As I pointed out, it was very beneficial that we could call on people outside to support what was happening inside the school. Companies and third level institutions opened their doors and were only dying to get involved. I take Mr. Curtis's point very strongly that we need to resource in the schools, but then the schools need to be open to what is outside and particularly to what is relevant in theirs.

There is one other bugbear of mine, which is-----