Mr. Ian Fleming:

As Mr. Moriarty said, this is not about downing the students. The system is not serving the profession well, and that is not serving the public well. We know this because of the drop-out rate. It is not a good way to manage the system. We have spoken to the Ministers for Education and Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. They are aware of the shortcomings of the CAO system in certain professions. We have made them aware that it is also a problem for the veterinary profession.

We have spoken to universities around the world, particularly in the UK which uses a system with a set bar that is below the maximum, which is what we are dealing with here at present with 605 points. It is an astronomical requirement to get into UCD. As Mr. Moriarty said, we cannot lower the academic bar too much. We need to retain levels, which is very important, but my view is that requiring 600 points does not necessarily mean we will get the best practitioners. We need people with practical abilities. We need aptitude testing of some type. There are systems across the water that work with a portfolio and a testing system that is simple enough. It is about communication. Practitioners spend half their time looking at the patient and half their time talking to the owner. If people are not capable-----