Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Commissioner to the House. She outlined the importance of Horizon 2020 but is there a chasm between those who are trying to make it work and the wider world? There is still a gap of knowledge and understanding which we can see for parents and young people who have not quite caught on to the STEM subjects mentioned earlier by the Commissioner. I recently ran an event for parents in the Sligo Institute of Technology to help them guide their children in that direction. Does the Commissioner have any particular thoughts on that point? For example, Sligo Institute of Technology has had a world Microsoft winner with the Imagine Cup. This year they won the Ireland section and will be going to St. Petersburg to compete, yet we are still struggling at school level to get young people involved in STEM subjects.

As the Commissioner knows, the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, is very keen to get an agreement in that regard. Can the Commissioner provide more details of the timeline involved and how it will pan out in the next month?