Ms Joan Donegan:

Currently, staff are elected. These are the internal representatives. The staff are elected by their own peers on to governing authorities in universities. There is a concern that by reducing the number of internal participants on the governing authority that it will affect the input from the staff. Not only that, it will also create a mistrust of the governing authority because right through the Bill there are several heads referring to the need for the external membership to be higher than the internal membership and that a number of external members will be ministerial appointments. There is a very strong sense and huge concern among our members that the staff voice will be reduced and that the ministerial nominees will promote Government policy rather than staff concerns for the needs of the university.

On the question of trade union involvement and the references to that in the Bill, there is no mention of the trade union movement in the Bill. That is really disappointing. The students union is correctly mentioned in a number of tables right through the document. There are a few examples in heads 17, 18 and 37. There are phrases such as "appointed by the Minister" or "representative bodies of staff and researchers in higher education providers", but there is no mention of the trade union movement which is extraordinary. The membership of the Higher Education Authority again includes a student representative, which is correct, but there is no trade union representative on that body. That is of huge concern, not only to IFUT but to the trade union movement itself.