Liam Fitzgerald (Fianna Fail)

Very cogent arguments were made last year in support of the motion that was tabled, which were contrary to the one-liner that was thrown at us by the Opposition. Nevertheless, I put up my hands and accept the political realities. That is where we are at and we have to go forward from there.

One of the other recommendations to address this issue was that of internationalisation. The Minister and her predecessor have been abroad to a number of countries to establish contacts and to make links. If the programme of internationalisation can be promoted further, it will help to generate revenue for Ireland and it will improve standards here as well. For it to be successful, we have to guarantee the quality of our education system in a way that will enable it to be recognised and validated internationally. We must have an international quality brand for our higher education system. I assume the Minister's recent trip to China was interesting in that context. I look forward to hearing from her about initiatives she took while there and the subsequent developments that have taken place.

One of the areas of focus for the report was our binary system at third level. The university sector is long established in Ireland, but the institutes of technology began in 1970 with the establishment of the regional technical colleges. They filled a vacuum that was there at the time and they have worked very efficiently under the remit that was given to them. In addressing this issue, the report acknowledges that there has been mission drift, with universities and institutes of technology taking over work that is more appropriate to the other at different times. There were proposals to dismantle the system and I would have concerns about such a move. In Britain, many polytechnics were promoted to university status with disastrous consequences. Our disproportionate share of US technology investment, when compared with that of England, owes as much to the contrast in our education systems as it does the differences in the incentives we give to these investors. That is very much a plus for the continuation of the binary system here. I support the report's recommendation that both sectors should concentrate on their defined and distinct functions and to an extent on those which are complementary.

The report recommends the unification of the third level funding system under a new tertiary education authority to prevent mission drift in any direction through the use of a funding approach based on individual institutional contracts. The report states that if Ireland is to become a world player as an information driven, knowledge-based economy, it will have to double its output of doctoral graduates by 2010, which is a significant challenge. The report also states that doctorate awarding powers should be confined to the universities, a view with which I tend to agree.

Among the strongest criticisms of the report is that it pays little or no attention to the humanities and the arts. I agree with the Minister that there is a major social dividend to be derived from the progress of education through economic development. There is no conflict between the humanities and arts sector and industry, research and innovation, which are quite complementary. I compliment the Minister on the proposed initiatives she outlined today and those she has already taken in the short few months since she came into office to implement the recommendations of the report. Significant challenges face the Minister which I have no doubt she will embrace as opportunities rather than consider daunting prospects.