As we live and work in a changing international environment and any programme is only as good as the premises used and the assumptions made therein, these programmes have to be heroic if one is looking forward seven or ten years. The great advantage of a mid-term review is that it provides an opportunity to review and to tack. There are two international movements, which were probably not anticipated to be as strong as they turned out to be when the national plan was being formulated, namely the movement of manufacturing capacity from the west to east globally – movement into China of service industries particularly and back-up industries to India, for example – and the likely impact of the extended European Union. While not wishing to decry or stop this, we have to consider what we have to do to replace those jobs. There is no point in bidding in the world for low price or low level employment. We have to find the means of upgrading skills, upgrading our workforce and getting added value. That requires an acute examination of the education system, particularly at third level.