Dr. John Walsh:

The Deputy's concern about the Bill is well founded. The heads of the Bill do not adequately establish the principle of academic freedom. A possibly good model is the Universities Act 1997, which includes an explicit commitment to academic freedom and even goes so far as to say that where there is a difference of interpretation between academic freedom and other heads of the Bill, that academic freedom will be given precedence or priority. Something like that would be very useful. We proposed an additional head 8(g) to the effect that preserving and promoting the principles of academic freedom would be included as a separate head in the Bill so it has a real status and is properly vindicated in the Bill. Of course Mr. Jones is right, precarious workers do not enjoy academic freedom. At the same time, we need to vindicate the principle and the text of the Bill.