Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was about to respond to the amendment. I will move amendment No. 149 shortly. That amendment will make a new provision to preclude serving members of staff of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science from being members of the appeals board. It is an important amendment to clarify and to further embed what is absolutely the intention set out in section 71(12) of the Bill that the appeals board should be independent in the performance of its functions. It is important it is independent and seen to be independent. That is the purpose of that amendment.

As for amendment No. 148 in the names of Deputies Ó Ríordáin and Conway-Walsh, section 70 of the Bill provides for the three-person appeals boards to be appointed by the Minister. It is to comprise two persons with a special interest in higher education, so that provision is already there, and one practising solicitor or barrister. Members of the HEA board, members of staff of the HEA and solicitors or barristers in full-time service of the State are precluded from membership of the appeals board. To clarify, we are already providing that nobody who works in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science can serve on the board, nobody who is a member of the HEA board can work on the appeals board, nobody who is a member of staff of the HEA can do so and nobody who is a solicitor or barrister in full-time service of the State can do so. That is quite a number of people we are taking out of circulation, and appropriately so, in the context of independence. It is my view that amendment No. 148, in precluding any public servant or employee of an institution of higher education from membership of the appeals board, would significantly risk narrowing the pool of people with expertise. Members may remember that the legislation states that we will comprise the board of two persons with a special interest in higher education. I think it is entirely possible to be a public servant not in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science or in the HEA or a staff member of an institution of higher education that is not in any way involved in this and to serve on the board. The amendment I am bringing forward takes a further step. For that reason I do not want to narrow the pool further.