Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with a great deal of what Deputy Byrne said, but we will not adopt the same position. Undoubtedly the RCSI is an excellent institution that is a university in all but name. It offers a high standard of education and is of great value to all of its students.

Our issue with the RCSI is not its campus in Dublin; it is its campus in Bahrain. This has been raised in these Houses on various occasions since 2011, and unfortunately the college has never responded satisfactorily. There is a major issue, in which former students of the campus who have treated victims of the Bahraini regime's security service have been tortured, imprisoned, arrested and persecuted. At no stage has the RCSI come out to condemn that or made a statement against that, and that is unacceptable. The failure to condemn these human rights violations reflects poorly on the college, and particularly that campus in Bahrain. If that campus is to gain further legitimacy by the granting of university status, there is an obligation on the RCSI's administrators to make it plain where they stand on these human rights abuses. We in the Oireachtas have an obligation to encourage them, and to persuade them to try and take a stronger position on these human rights abuses.

I believe the Government has in the past made statements condemning some of the human rights issues and it is aware of these problems. This issue needs to be addressed and until it is. we are not satisfied to support the granting of university status, not for any educational reason in Ireland - it is a university in all but name - but for the college's failure to tackle the human rights abuse suffered by their own former students in Bahrain.