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

I have three minutes and about 3 million things I want to say. I begin by picking up where Deputy McGuinness left off, with MTU. The raising of the flag over the rebranded MTU was a very positive day for education in Cork, Kerry and the whole region. I acknowledge there are still issues that need to be resolved with the transition. It is important the Minister is aware of that and keeps those issues under review. None of them is insurmountable. They can be resolved and I hope they will be.

I welcome the Bill. It is a necessary updating of the legislative framework of higher education which is half a century old. During that period, higher education has been completely transformed and expanded by many multiples. I welcome that the Minister took on board some of the Sinn Féin recommendations during pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill, including on the importance of a role for cross-Border co-operation in higher education and also by giving the HEA a specific role in the promotion of the Irish language. Tá Conradh na Gaeilge agus go leor daoine eile den tuairim go bhfuil gá níos mó a dhéanamh ó thaobh ról na Gaolainne sa Bhille seo agus ó thaobh an Údaráis um Ard-Oideachas. Tá sé fíorthábhachtach go dtógfar san áireamh roinnt de na moltaí sin ar Chéim an Choiste chun go mbeidh an Ghaeilge ag croílár na heagraíochta seo agus go mbeidh sí á cur chun cinn. Beidh muid ag moladh roinnt rúin agus roinnt leasuithe chun é sin a dhéanamh.

I raise also a concern about the proposal to limit to 17 the number of members of governing bodies of higher education institutions.

There are 39 members on the board of the college I attended, University College Cork, UCC. It is a very inclusive board; that is its objective. It is a diverse grouping of people, including those from academic and non-academic backgrounds, current students, graduates, the mayors of two cities, representatives from other organisations such as IBEC, the education and training board and the chamber of commerce, and local elected representatives. They bring a unique viewpoint to the running of the university. If the Bill is implemented, this board will lose more than half its members. What 22 would go from the board and what viewpoints would lose out? There is an issue there. I know the point about efficient governance, but perhaps there should be some autonomy for organisations. If UCC is satisfied with how it operates, then perhaps that should be allowed because it has a diversity of voices.

I will take the opportunity to raise the issue of the leaving certificate about which we have had a lot of discussion. The Minister will know that I am disappointed with the decision. I think that students are disappointed and frustrated. I do not believe that every option was explored, but whether the hybrid or current option was selected it will be the case that there will be some issues with third level places, especially for high-demand courses. No matter what course of action the Government took, whether it opted for what Sinn Féin recommended or went down this road, there were going to be challenges. It is vitally important that there are targeted interventions for those high-demand courses, in particular.

I will make a final point very briefly. Last year, we raised the importance of fairness as between courses. We need to work on that for next year, but there is still an issue hanging over from last year. There were issues we asked the Minister to address last year. We would appreciate it if he were to come back to us regarding some of the advice that was to be provided at that point because we want to be constructive in that regard.

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