Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Section 70 of the Bill provides for the appointment of the three-person appeals board to be appointed by the Minister. It is to comprise two persons with special interest in higher education and one practising solicitor and barrister. The purpose of the amendment is to recast section 70(a) to provide that one of the three nominees of the appeals board must be a suitably qualified international higher education expert, who may be an academic, depending on the matter under appeal. The revised text also precludes a public servant or any person employed by the institution of higher education from being eligible to be appointed to the appeals board. The use of an appeals board is envisaged by all within the Department and the sector to be an unusual occurrence. In the event that it is required, we believe that an international perspective would be beneficial. It is not an unusual use of international expertise, as there are existing panels of relevant experts to draw from.