That Dáil Éireann approves the following Order in draft: Universities Act 1997 (section 54(3))(University Authorisation) Order 2019, copies of which have been laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on 19th November, 2019.]]>
The Housing (Sale of the Local Authority Houses) Regulations 2015 provide the basis for the tenant incremental purchase scheme for existing local authority houses. The scheme, as the Senator will know, is open to eligible tenants, including joint tenants, of local authority houses that are available for sale under the scheme. To be eligible, tenants must meet certain criteria, including having a minimum reckonable income of €15,000 per annum and having been in receipt of social housing support for at least one year.
The 2015 regulations governing this scheme provide for a number of specified classes of houses to be excluded from sale.These include: houses provided to local authorities under Part V of the Planning and Development Act, as amended; houses specifically designed for older persons; group Traveller housing; and houses provided to facilitate people with disabilities transferring from institutional care to community-based living. The provisions in Part V of the Act, as amended, are designed to enable the development of mixed-tenure, sustainable communities. Under the terms of the tenant incremental purchase scheme 2016, Part V homes, regardless of when they were tenanted, are excluded in order to ensure that homes delivered under this mechanism will remain available for people in need of social housing support and that the original policy goals of the legislation are not eroded over time.
The continued development of mixed-tenure communities remains very important in promoting social integration. Local authorities may, within the provisions of the regulations, exclude certain houses which in their opinion should not be sold for reasons such as proper stock or estate management. It is a matter for each individual local authority to administer the scheme in its operational area with the overarching provisions of the governing legislation for the scheme and in a manner appropriate to its housing requirements.
]]>Separately, sectoral employment orders, SEOs, set out the terms and conditions for workers in the economic sector to which they apply. There are currently three SEOs in place in the construction, electrical contracting and mechanical engineering sectors. The process to put an SEO in place begins when a request is formally made to the Labour Court under the legislation to review the terms and conditions for workers in a particular economic sector. A request to the Labour Court can be made separately or jointly by organisations that substantially represent employers or workers, such as a trade union or an employers' body. Again, the role of the Minister is to ensure that the Labour Court has followed the procedures set out in legislation. I must emphasise the voluntary nature of Ireland's approach to industrial relations. Our role is to provide a statutory framework within which parties can come together voluntarily.
]]>In 2016, RCSI launched the Emily Winifred Dixon prize, which recognises women who have made an outstanding contribution to the field. One of those people who has won that prize is Professor Louise Richardson, of whom many members will know. She is the vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford. Former President of Ireland, Dr. Mary Robinson, also received the Emily Winifred Dixon prize. In October 2018, RCSI was awarded an Athena SWAN bronze award in recognition of positive gender practice, providing equal opportunities for success for all people. I understand it is working towards that silver award.
As mentioned, it also participates in the higher education admissions route, supporting socio-economically disadvantaged students, and it provides a number of access scholarships for CAO school leaving applicants. I had the great pleasure of meeting one family from the Traveller community, a family member who is a graduate of RCSI, with another brother training as a medical doctor and a sister training as a nurse. These scholarships will provide reduced entry points, financial support, and opportunities for students who might otherwise be unable to attend third level.
Students from 30 countries study and train at RCSI, and this is evidence of the diversity of the institution. The other point I wanted to make was that there will be university designation across all the campuses, and there will be a consistent approach, which I would expect from RCSI, of the highest educational and ethical standards across the universities. I am going to leave that topic and turn to the piece on Bahrain, if the committee does not mind.
What I would like to highlight is that RCSI can already use the title university outside of the State for specified purposes under the existing 2015 legislation. Therefore, the draft order before the committee today has no impact on RCSI using the university title outside the State. As Deputy Jan O'Sullivan said, higher educational institutions, HEIs, are independent, autonomous bodies with responsibilities to governing bodies, as well as to staff, students, and wider stakeholders. This is also true in large measure to those HEIs which do not receive primary funding from the State, but which may receive university authorisation under this process.
RCSI has informed me about its Bahrain campus, and its work in that region. RCSI has placed a strong emphasis on the ethos and the standards of its Bahrain campus, where it provides quality medical and nursing training in a non-sectarian environment, and where it instills high ethical standards of medical practice in its students and in its graduates. RCSI advocates on behalf of medical personnel in treating all patients regardless of their backgrounds. RCSI has publicly stressed that the well-being of its Bahrain staff and students, and their freedom to work and learn in safety, is paramount. RCSI believes that by continuing to educate 1,400 students of all religious and cultural backgrounds, and socio-economic groups in Bahrain, as well as instilling adherence to the highest ethical standards of medical practice, it can most effectively contribute to just outcomes and to community reconciliation. The RCSI medical programme has been validated by the Irish Medical Council, IMC, following an inspection visit to Bahrain. A notable graduate of RCSI is Nada Haffadh, who became Bahrain's first female minister, after being appointed health minister in 2004.
I heard what was said today. It was alleged that the hospitals in Bahrain, where RCSI Bahrain medical and nursing students have their clinical training, were connected to torture and discriminatory conduct in the provision of healthcare. There is no evidence to back up this assertion. The RCSI medical programme has been validated by the Irish Medical Council, following an inspection to Bahrain. The Irish Medical Council accreditation report is a publicly available document. I can read out some of its findings, if the committee would like to hear those, but the IMC accreditation team commended RCSI Bahrain, and the teaching hospital, which is the subject of the unproven allegations, for their attention to students and to their professional and ethical development. In particular, the report noted that students at clinical sites, that is, associated teaching hospitals, understood that they could raise concerns regarding professionalism observed at clinical sites, knew who they should contact and were confident that their concerns would be treated seriously and appropriately. Furthermore, a stand-alone module on human rights has been introduced to the curriculum, with assessment explicitly linked to student progress. A range of external sources are explicitly identified as being referenced in teaching professionalism, in ethics and in human rights, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Bill of Human Rights and the report of the Bahrain independent commission of inquiry.
I will leave it at that.
]]>They asked me about diversity in RCSI.
]]>For some 235 years now, the RCSI has played a key role in Irish surgical and medical education in this country. It is a highly progressive institution incorporating state-of-the-art technology and employing teaching methods of the highest quality and excellence. As well as its Irish undergraduates, students from over 40 countries receive their medical education at the RCSI, and in associated training hospitals in disciplines such as surgery, medicine, nursing, radiology, pharmacology, anaesthesiology, physiotherapy and dentistry.
The RCSI is held in high international regard. Nationally it is one of a limited number of higher Education Institutions, all of them universities, which hold designated awarding powers to a level 10 doctoral degree under the National Framework of Qualifications. That said, the title of “university” is highly prized and rightly so. Its integrity, in the context of safeguarding the reputation for excellence that attaches to the Irish higher education system, must be protected. As such, this authorisation is neither easily obtained nor lightly granted. In 2015 the RCSI obtained permission to describe itself as a university outside the State in certain prescribed circumstances. The draft order before the committee today will, if passed by resolution of both Houses of the Oireachtas, enable the use of the university description in the State also.
In July this year, with thanks to this committee's informed assistance and support, I piloted the then Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2019 through its legislative passage, including its amendment of the Universities Act 1997. Now duly enacted this legislation provides for the first time a legal process whereby an education provider that does not derive their primary income from the Exchequer may seek authorisation from the Minister for Education and Skills to describe itself as a university. This legislative process has provided an equitable pathway for eligible educational providers such as the RCSI to seek to so describe themselves - but only subject to compliance with an extensive set of rigorous conditions. These conditions are modelled in large measure on those in the Technological Universities Act 2018. They encompass requirements relating to an educational provider’s research record, scope of programme provision and intensity, student access, staff qualifications, staff and student opportunities, governance and financial capability, as well as its wider collaborative international, professional, stakeholder and community links, and its contribution to the promotion of the economic, cultural, social and scientific development of the State.
The RCSI is the first educational provider to apply under the new legislative provision and this application has been rigorously scrutinised and examined. I have been advised by both the Higher Education Authority and Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland in considering this application. I am satisfied that the RCSI complies with the conditions prescribed in the Universities Act 1997 as amended. As such, I am proposing to grant the RCSI the first university authorisation order in the State. I hereby commend the draft order to the committee seeking its approval.
]]>Other information that was discussed was the schools and universities of sanctuary. I have visited schools of sanctuary in Galway. There are six institutions in the higher education universities and institutes of sanctuary. Again, it is to give students confidence and to welcome them. It is not just academia. There is more to education and more going on. We are trying to understand what prevents students from the Traveller community from going forward.
]]>They also talked about what could help them. Three or four distinct pieces of information came through. These are included in the action plan. One relates to the transition from secondary school to third level. Some do not come through secondary school but via another path. They talked about the great importance of the access officer in the higher education institutions. They talked about one good adult helping them to get that confidence. That came up on numerous occasions. They talked about having teachers from the Traveller community in the system. This comes under our path 1 funding, which totals €2.7 million over three years. I believe the Chair was talking about the Tobar project earlier.
]]>Following the publication of the current national access plan, NAP, the Department launched PATH. This funding stream enables innovative approaches to support the delivery of targets in the national access plan. PATH's main objective is to increase participation in higher education by our national access plan target groups, including the Traveller community. Each of the three new PATH funding strands is expected to have a positive impact on Traveller numbers in higher education. The three PATH funding streams will help us to better understand and address the barriers to access to higher education for Travellers. The feedback from students supported by PATH is positive.
A progress review of the NAP published last year extended the lifetime of the plan to 2021. This will enable us to gather data under our data plan so that we can make informed decisions regarding the next NAP. The progress review illustrated that even though there were increases in participation of Travellers in higher education, there remains quite a task ahead to meet the access target, which is a modest target set in the plan. The baseline of just 35 Traveller students in higher education has increased to 61 in 2017 to 2018. This is still short of the target of 80, which we will seek to achieve before the end of the current plan in 2021. Self-identification is the only method by which information on Traveller participation in higher education can be gathered. In this regard, the progress review highlighted that the number of Traveller students in higher education may be higher than officially recorded, as some Traveller students have chosen not to self-identify. That in itself shows a fear among some Travellers about declaring their membership of the Traveller community. This is despite the fact, as I know, that they are very proud to be part of the Traveller tradition.
Arising from the progress review published in 2018, priority actions were published in the action plan for education in 2019 and a commitment was made to the development of an action plan for increasing Traveller participation in higher education. Following a consultation process, I launched the action plan for increasing Traveller participation in higher education last week in Technological University Dublin. The purpose of the action plan is to bring a particular focus of attention and afford particular priority to certain actions. Its overall objective is to advance Traveller participation in higher education within the context of approaches on retention and transition of Travellers across the education spectrum.
Progress has been made on increasing participation in higher education by under-represented target groups. However, we are placing a particular focus on Traveller participation in higher education to ensure we meet the NAP target for this key under-represented group by 2021. It is intended that the various initiatives under the strands of the programme for access to higher education are aimed at increasing Traveller participation. This will assist in the realisation of the target and enhance our understanding of the barriers that exist in respect of Traveller participation in higher education.
I am grateful to the committee for the opportunity to address it today.
]]>I am aware that it is the nature of major changes such as the technological university process that industrial relations issues will arise.
I am hopeful that in the first instance Institute of Technology, Carlow and the TUI will work to resolve these issues through normal industrial relations processes. I did just tell the Deputy a few minutes ago that a substantial amount of money was launched, as it were, last week. A total of €90 million is absolutely ring-fenced for the development of technological universities. The Government has put money towards what we want to happen in the various consortia.
]]>Under the statutory framework detailed in the Technological Universities Act 2018, it is a matter, in the first instance, for the relevant institutes of technology participating in a technological university development consortium to progress their plans to seek technological university designation.
In this context, Waterford Institute of Technology and the Institute of Technology Carlow, which form the Technological University for South East Ireland consortium, TUSEI, are currently working towards submission of an application for technological university designation under the 2018 Act.
In addition to the 2018 Act, the Government has put in place a number of very important supports enabling the establishment of technological universities.
The technological university research network, TURN, established by my Department completed a report, which I launched recently, Technological Universities: Connectedness and Collaboration through Connectivity. That report details the case and requirements for a State change in higher education reform whereby technological universities will assist in the delivery of national strategic objectives for regional socioeconomic development, higher education access, research and skills progression.
The report makes recommendations for the strategic development of technological universities in a structured system-wide approach and identifies the need for investment in integrated multi-campus digital infrastructure.
In response Government announced in budget 2020 the provision of €90 million over the next three years under a new technological university transformation fund to support consortia such as TUSEI to achieve technological university designation and the further advancement of established technological universities. This is in addition to the €31 million in Exchequer funding invested in technological university development to date, of which the TUSEI project has received €3.72 million.
]]>We launched a €500 million climate fund and much of that is aligned with what is happening in the higher education institutions. As we speak, much work is taking place in the higher education institutions in the research area. They are using education funding for that.
On organic agriculture, I have met Teagasc on a number of occasions and I am due to meet it in the next fortnight and I will refer back to the Deputy on that.
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