Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree 100% with both of my colleagues. There is a gap in the competence and authority between the Department, the HEA and the institutions themselves and it is totally unclear as to who is responsible for what. On another issue, the ETBs are out there on an arm that is independent as well. There does not seem to be anybody to tie it together. It just gets kicked back into this committee and we all know what happens in here then. They say that it is the subject of investigation, there is a protected disclosure or it is before the courts and they cannot say anything. While I appreciate that this is a policy issue, which is not part of our remit, we can make recommendations. There are major deficits in the overall oversight of the education sector, particularly at third level, but also at second level with the ETBs. We should consider devoting a session to protected disclosures and the fact that the legislation governing them is defective. That legislation needs to be reviewed because it is focused on internal investigation of one's own problems, whereby people selected as those responsible may well be closely associated with the investigation of a protected disclosure or where their proximity to such an investigation would not help the perception of integrity.