Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As the Chairman will know, I have been looking for this for a couple of years. I would like to point out that it has taken two years for the HEA to produce this report. I would like an explanation of the second paragraph of Mr. O'Toole's letter, which states:

The Board of the HEA has determined that the recommendations contained in the report would apply, as appropriate, to all institutions. [That is fair enough.] It has also determined its preference, that similar reviews in the future should, in the first instance, be carried out by the governing body of the institution concerned unless there is a specific reason not to.

I take from this that Mr. O'Toole means that the institution should carry out reviews before the HEA does and that we should not be asking questions about it. I would like that clarified but I take it that is what he is saying.

This report is not acceptable. It is too generic, it lacks specifics, and there are issues around roles as regards how it was carried out, which I might talk about in private session at some point. There are no details in respect of positions, roles and responsibilities within the organisations or companies. While I do not necessarily expect names to be mentioned, I do expect titles, roles, and responsibilities to be referenced. The report is too vague. There are no figures of substance in it. Granted, I have only just had a chance to read this report because it only came in yesterday evening and these are my initial views on it, but it is not what I was expecting. It does not assuage the concerns of the committee. I am not even sure that all of the companies referred to in our discussions with the HEA and the college are covered. There is a huge volume of detail missing.

As we only got this report last night, I propose to put into writing some of my issues, requests, concerns, and questions for consideration at a meeting so that we could write back to the HEA in the coming weeks. I suggest that we put this on hold to give us time to consider it further, given we only got it at 6 o'clock yesterday evening. The report is very disappointing and it does not deal with the issues.