Mr. Lee Reynolds:

There is certainly potential for co-operation on a whole range of fronts, in particular, around the issue of climate change. We are talking about a massive expansion of the green energy sector, which will require significant labour. Energy is a physics-based industry so there is plenty of potential for co-operation within that sector but it is not limited to that sector. With physics and other STEM subjects, the key point is that these sciences and this research will create jobs in five years' time that do not exist right now, so these disciplines need to be able to start training the people to take up those jobs. That is the fit. We would all like to be able to predict the future but it is not going to be a perfect science. There is going to be a massive opportunity, particularly with physics-based industries in which the number of jobs has grown by more than 40%. If that rate of growth continues, there will be 80,000 new jobs over the next ten years. However, we already know there is a skills shortage so even the current demand in Ireland is not being met. If Ireland is to fulfil its potential, that demand and future demand have to be met. A key thing in that is apprenticeships. With physics in particular, there is an assumption that it is graduate only. We did a major study into all job opportunities in physics-based industries and the physics sector. We found that half of the jobs were technical and required no graduate route. There is, therefore, a clear demand in the market that is not being met by the system we have.