Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies and, in particular, Deputy Conway-Walsh, for the acknowledgement that we moved on representation for the governing authorities. That was an issue that the Teachers Union of Ireland, TUI, and others, pursued. I engaged with the TUI at its national congress in Wexford a few weeks previously on that point.

I am not minded to accept these three amendments. To be blunt, the HEA board must be competence-based. That is in no way to suggest that trade union representatives or people with a trade union background cannot contribute to a competence-based board because of course they can. I believe in a publicly advertised process whereby people apply to sit on the HEA board. If we start ring-fencing seats, there are many other sectors of society for which we could make similar cases. Why not require representation for people with a disability or people from groups that are under-represented in higher education? Perhaps people who are able to talk about progressions and pathways between further education and higher education should be represented.

It is absolutely open to members of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions or other academic or non-academic staff members in higher education institutions to apply for board membership. It is similarly open to Irish-speaking community representatives to apply for membership of the HEA board once they, like any other citizen in the country, meet the competency required for membership. A better way to approach establishing a competence-based board is to publicly advertise the role. The Minister of the day can consider the balance of skills required on that board to achieve the necessary good governance and oversight that is required of the board membership.

The Deputy made a point about the Irish language. I made the following point earlier but it is worth making again. We considered and engaged on this issue, and made some progress, during earlier Stages of this legislation. The promotion and use of the Irish language is now included in the competencies that a Minister of the day considers when appointing someone to the board of the HEA. It is outlined that the Minister should appoint to the board persons who in the opinion of him or her are of sufficient experience or expertise relating to matters connected to education, teaching and learning, research, the promotion and use of the Irish language, organisation of financial governance, management of public administration or risk management. In the list of competencies a Minister is expected to consider when deciding whether he or she wishes to appoint someone to a board, the promotion and use of the Irish language is now included not implicitly but explicitly.

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