Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I was not sure as I did not see him there, but I would certainly have acknowledged him had he been there. Over 250 people from the academic side in all of the third level sectors were in attendance.

While the Hunt report is not perfect, it is the only report we have and I will not pause to have a new report written or to get a new roadmap. Some aspects of the report are very good and others, frankly, are not all that good. It is up to the academic community and the third level sector in its entirety to see how it can get better value for the resources that are currently available, for example, in terms of the utilisation of capital resources or the combining of the provision of courses. I said earlier that it had recently been brought to my attention that there are more than 40 courses in education and teacher training being delivered in 21 separate institutions across the country. This came as a big surprise to many people who ought to know better. We need to see how we can combine those courses and spread them out over a longer period of time. There is intense use of the capital infrastructure in the university sector but not to the same degree everywhere, and there is quite a variation in the intensity of use of the capital infrastructure in the institutes of technology.

To answer the Deputy's specific question, at the end of the day this will not be dictated from Marlborough Street or from the Higher Education Authority. We have invited the participants and partners, against the background of a reality which they too must confront, to come forward with innovative ideas because it is those on the ground who have a better knowledge of the way to do business than anybody else.

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