Results 2,541-2,560 of 45,291 for speaker:Simon Harris

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I move amendment No. 1: In page 5, after line 29, to insert the following: " "appeals board" has the meaning assigned to it by section 44(1);". These amendments are largely either technical or clarifying in terms of the policy intent. The committee will recall that the legislation has an appeals provision whereby the CEO and the agency would require the recipient to return some or all...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I move amendment No. 2: In page 8, line 27, after "the" where it firstly occurs to insert "official". I can take people through these very individually but it would not be a good use of time.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: These amendments that have been grouped together are very minor technical amendments that serve either to give a greater clarity to the policy intention of a certain section, to better anchor the provision in a section or make reference to other relevant sections in the Bill. They are all technical. For example, amendment No. 2 proposes inserting the word "the". I propose these amendments...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Farrell for the amendments and I understand the intention. Let me share my thoughts on this on Committee Stage. No doubt it may be something Deputy Farrell wants to return to later in the legislative process. I understand the intention of amendment No. 4 in making specific reference to elements that might seem to need highlighting, and the Deputy has outlined why she...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I accept Deputy Farrell's bona fides on this and where she is coming from. In many ways, when we started with the heads of the Bill, which we published and brought to Government, we had a more prescriptive approach to some of this in terms of definitions and the like. By teasing through it - and I credit my officials for this - we ended up acknowledging that what we published was not the...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy and acknowledge the weight and respect I attach to his contribution as a former Minister of State in this area, and the knowledge and perspective he brings to it. I am conscious of that, and I thank him for the issues he raised on Second Stage, which I tried to address in my correspondence. It got to him, slightly belatedly, today in advance of Committee Stage. Before I...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I am sorry. I should have said that amendment No. 10 is in Deputy Farrell's name.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: Is there a voting block for postponed divisions?

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I move amendment No. 8: In page 10, to delete lines 15 to 17 and substitute the following: “(j) promote the undertaking in the State of research and innovation that is funded (wholly or partly) by an international or European Union body, institution or organisation and, where so funded, to promote the success of such research and innovation,”.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I move amendment No. 12: In page 11, line 15, after “applications” to insert “or investigating whether recipients of funding are in compliance with conditions of funding”. These amendments are broadly related to ensuring clarity of a provision within a section or provide better alignment between provisions within the Bill by referencing or anchoring these more...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for the amendment. The Civil Service Renewal 2030 strategy does outline the policy intention of creating that culture of innovation within the public service. The planning, implementation and funding of these programmes is a matter in the first instance for the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. Section 47 of the Bill does give the new agency...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I move amendment No. 14: In page 11, line 25, to delete “time” and substitute “period”.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputies Farrell and Sherlock. I might start with Deputy Sherlock's point. It is captured in a later amendment, amendment No. 38, from Deputy Farrell. Briefly, on that broader point, because Deputy Sherlock brought it up, there are two points I would make. First, from a legal point of view, as the Deputy will be aware, the board and the agency are unlikely to be the employer of...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: It is a valid point and will set it out in writing for the Deputy. For the benefit of the meeting, the research council is a sub-committee of the board from a legal point of view. It is seen as a group that will consist entirely of top-class researchers and will be able to feed into the board but also put forward proposals such as around the design of programmes.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I do not have much to add other than to say it would be a significant break with tradition in terms of a competency-based board. As I said, we do not state in the HSE legislation a majority of members of the HSE board should be healthcare professionals. We certainly do not say, in relation to RTÉ, a majority of members of the board should be working in television or radio. It would be...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I move amendment No. 17: In page 17, line 6, after “1997” to insert “as”.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for the amendments. This is Committee Stage and I will reflect on these amendments and no doubt we will have an opportunity on Report Stage as well to tease them through further. However, I will outline my initial response. Regarding amendment No. 18, the provision we have put into this Bill is based in very similar provisions in comparable legislation. In fact, it is...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: I apologise for coming back in again but just for clarity, because I should have said it for the record of the committee, the reason some bodies are specified currently in the Bill and others are not, is that those that are specified are funding bodies. We have kept the specified list to the funding bodies.

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Research and Innovation Bill 2024: Committee Stage (28 Feb 2024)

Simon Harris: Our understanding is that it will remain under the aegis of the HEA.