James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, for taking this Topical Issue matter. I have been in touch with the Department for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, and have spoken to the Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, directly and know he is engaging on the issue and recently met students involved. I acknowledge from the outset that the Government is engaging on the matter.

The issue I raise relates to Maynooth University in my constituency of Kildare North. It is a very successful, large and growing university that is an important dot on the map of the national education infrastructure at higher level. It is a university I have a significant amount of time for. My daughter recently attended it and I have been there on many occasions. The institution is progressive in many ways, not least in its commitment to providing a broad education. Students are not educated in silos of certain disciplines but they are encouraged and are given a broad subject choice at the outset. However, it has fallen short on one important item, which has exercised and concerned the student body greatly and understandably so, that is the issue of the levy.

There was a referendum in the university in the late 1990s to impose a levy on students. The introduction of the levy was done with a view to expand the facilities on the campus thereby creating a student centre; providing greater student amenities and facilities; developing a sports and community engagement cluster; developing an arts and cultural quarter; and providing a basic and fundamental requirement of a student centre in which students could gather, sit, meet and chat with other students and have lunch. University is not just about lectures. It is about college life and the public square. The conversations that happen on beanbags, benches or couches are an integral part of the student and learning experience, which is part of the educational philosophy. More rudimentarily, it is a place to get in from the rain and the cold and have some lunch. It is somewhere to go and to gather. It is a pretty rudimentary requirement.

The students have paid for it. Speaking as the parent of a student, I have paid for it indirectly through my daughter. Many students and parents have paid this levy for many years. The money has been gathered into a fund. We do not know where that fund sits or what its purpose is. The college announced recently that the student centre will not now to be built and that the plans have changed. It is a move in bad faith. The students contributed in good faith for many years. They created a fund, the purpose of which, through a referendum of the student body at the time, was that a student centre would be created, as well as the other arts, cultural and sporting hubs I mentioned. That has now not happened. The money was gathered, but the flip side of the coin, namely, that the student centre would be built, is now not being delivered on.

Students have now been told it will not be delivered. They are very exercised about this, and rightly so. Niall Daly, the president of the student body, recently led a walkout on campus of the students in protest. He has engaged with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris. He has had engagement with Dr. Eeva Leinonen, the college president. It is not good enough.

I know this is not a Government issue. The Government is not the governing body of NUI Maynooth. However, the Government has a role to play in engaging with all stakeholders. It needs to put it very firmly to Maynooth University that it cannot do this and that it is not good enough to collect levies over a number of years for a student facility that is then not delivered, in particular from a student body, given that the latter comprises people of limited means who struggle at the best of times. That is a breach of faith. I ask the Government to intervene and make its views very clearly known to the college authorities.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science thanks the Deputy for raising this matter because it gives me, on his behalf, the opportunity to set out to the House the position regarding the Maynooth student centre. Maynooth University recently informed the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science that its governing authority had taken the difficult decision to terminate the Maynooth University student centre contract. The Department does not have any direct involvement in the project in question, as no direct Exchequer funding was being provided by the Department for the project, which was solely being funded by European Investment Bank borrowings which were serviced by income from a student levy. However, all capital projects advanced by publicly funded higher education institutions must comply with the provisions of the spending code. The Minister understands that, following detailed consideration of a number of matters, including the risk associated with continuing with a project that would then breach the public spending code, the governing authority decided to terminate the contract.

Higher education institutions, HEIs, are governed by the Universities Act 1997, the Institutes of Technology Act 1992 to 2006 and the Technological Universities Act 2018. Within the meaning of these Acts, HEIs are autonomous bodies responsible for their day-to-day management and operational affairs, including dealing with policy and procedure regarding any levy payable by students for services or campus facilities. The expenditure incurred to date on the project will be met by the university from financial reserves. No financial contribution is being sought from the Exchequer and there will be no impact on the student levy collected from the university student body.

Maynooth University has an ongoing programme of enhancement of student facilities. Current projects include additional social spaces for student use, study spaces, meeting pods for student meetings, enhanced furniture in existing spaces, additional parking, a new bus terminus and a new outdoor gym. Maynooth University is considering the most appropriate way of meeting the needs for additional student spaces on campus in the short and long-term in the overall context of achieving value for money in any future investment.

The Minister met student representatives on a range of issues on Thursday, 6 October. The students' union from Maynooth University was represented at the meeting and he listened to its concerns about the student centre and levy. The Minister also met the chair of the governing authority of the university recently and strongly encouraged the university to continue engagement with the student representative body on the next steps for the project. He understands a further meeting with the student representative body is scheduled for this week.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for the reply. I acknowledge that the Minister has engaged on the issue. I appreciate the Minister of State's response that there is no Government money at involved. With respect, I do not entirely agree with that. The university is publicly funded. I accept that the funding for the project came from another source. The university receives funding from a variety of sources. A publicly funded university has reneged on its commitments to students. Even worse than it being public money, it is money paid by students over many years.

If one were to be technical about it, the conditions under which the referendum of the student body was held at the time included a provision that any alternative to the conditions of the fundamental premise would invalidate the vote. This is an avenue the students' union is going to pursue and consider, and I think it has a very good point in that regard.

The student body has made it clear that it has three basic asks. One is that the governing body publicly reiterate its commitment to deliver a new student centre for the benefit of students, which seems very basic requirement, and ensure the prioritisation of that over any other capital projects. The second is that the student levy be frozen, with no increase to the charge for a period of five years. It seems reasonable that if there is a levy for something that is not happening the students would not need to pay it. A freeze on the levy makes a lot of sense. The third ask is that there be transparency around the process in the future. Where is the money that has been collected and ring-fenced to date? How much is in the fund? What is it being ring-fenced and used for? Is it gathering interest? Is it being used temporarily for other projects? What will happen in the future? Will the money be used to commission a study on the new student centre? Where will it go? Where will it be spent? What are the next steps?

There should be full accountability and transparency in respect of this matter. The students' union has a place on the governing body, but it is only one voice among those of many other stakeholders. It is a reasonable request. It is good corporate governance. The students' union did not expect this move. It took it and the entire Maynooth hinterland off guard. I, as a local Deputy, was not expecting it. There needs to be better communication and transparency from the college body as this issue progresses.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I concur.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I take the Deputy's point. Although this project did not involve Government funding and was instead funded by a student levy and the EIB, the university as a body is funded by the State. It is clear that the Minister is not shying away or distancing himself from this and saying that it has nothing to do with him. He has met the students and the governing bodies.

On the three points made very clearly by the Deputy, the first related to whether the governing body will reiterate its commitment to make sure that any money collected is spent on students. The university has already advised the Department that moneys from the fund will not be lost and that the student levy will remain ring-fenced for student facilities. The second question was whether there will be a freeze on the student levy. In other words, that the university will stop collecting it. The final question was about transparency with regard to how much money has been collected and what it has been spent on. They are very reasonable and absolutely fair questions. I will convey them to the Minister. When he and the Department communicate with the governing body, we will make it very clear that we are looking for transparency and that any publicly funded institution be transparent about its expenditure.