Results 4,141-4,160 of 4,414 for speaker:Sean Barrett

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: That is a very important point. Student evaluations, from my professional experience, are subject to caveats. If one marks a class very lightly, one will score really well in the opinion poll. Health warnings have to be attached to them. Certain subjects, such as thermodynamics and econometrics, are incredibly complex and difficult, and not even a saint will get a high mark because they...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 63: In page 29, subsection (4), line 1, after "State" to insert the following: ", other than one of the previously established universities,".

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: I will withdraw it. I hope it will rise another day.

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 71: In page 31, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following subsection: "(5) The Appeals Panel, upon validation of the refusal of the Authority under subsection (1)(b), will have to make a statement of evidence that the decision was compliant with section 14 of the Act of 1997.". This amendment refers to a requirement to give reasons for a decision if the appeal...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State.

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State most sincerely for his response, which is good to hear. As he will be aware, the Comptroller and Auditor General examined all these matters in his resource management study. What he found was that the funds provided for this purpose were top-sliced from the teaching budget. Top-slicing is a word I hate and is regarded in golf as ending up in a bunker. Much of...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: No. I thank the Minister of State for his clarification. The key issue is that an external examiner from outside the country who is qualified in engineering, economics or whatever in the relevant subject already assesses university courses. It is the fault of the universities that they do not stress to the Minister and his officials that they already undergo external examinations. The...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 9: In page 12, subsection (1)(b), line 27, to delete "formulate national" and substitute "guide".

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 20: In page 15, subsection (2), line 16, to delete "the Minister" and substitute "Seanad Éireann". All of the eight person body will be appointed by the Minister. I am trying to find a role for this House similar to the idea that appointments to State boards in other Departments would come before the Oireachtas. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport was one of...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: No. There is a difference of emphasis between myself and the Minister of State.

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 22: In page 17, lines 13 to 33, to delete subsections (3) to (5). Subsection (3), which I am seeking to delete, provides that the chief executive shall not be required to give account before a committee for any matter which has been or may be the subject of proceedings before a court or tribunal in the State. It is almost the negative version of what the Minister of...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State. The reply shows that the CEO is regarded as the Minister's preacher and public servant. That is not what education is about. Under further provisions in the Bill he is not allowed to discuss the merits of any policy of the Government or of a Minister of the Government. Imagine what an extension of that into the university sector would do. It would destroy...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: I am afraid it has already been decided.

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: He has been there since 2010, unfortunately, so Senator Power will have to accept that situation. Who drew up the merits and objectives of this policy, and what kind of Ireland do they envisage? It is appalling. The essence of education is that there are differing views and we discuss them. Nobody has all the wisdom, yet in this case he does not need to answer to anybody or take part in...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: I will not press it for the moment. We are really intruding at this stage into the way Ireland's education operates. I thank the Minister of State for his reference to the work of people like Mary Robinson. She grew up in a system where, for example, the provost of Trinity College would never say he was the CEO and that others should stay quiet and touch the forelock. That is the nature...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 26: In page 21, subsection (3), line 25, after "with" to insert the following: "the Governing Authority and Academic Council of the". This amendment is in the spirit of consultation about which the Minister of State spoke. It proposes that the authority should also consult the governing authorities and academic councils of the relevant providers. There is an unfortunate...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: I welcome the Minister of State's response. The Bill was not placed before internal consultative bodies. I do not know if such constultation was asked for or if the Department went ahead with the legislation unilaterally. However, it has become a recent tradition, in some Irish universities more than others, that the opinions of those who actually do the work do not count. That is why I...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: I will not press the amendment, but I am halfway through a four year term as a member of a university board and can assure the Minister of State that the Bill was never discussed. I previoulsy served a half term on the same board and the Bill was not discussed during that time, which is most regrettable. However, I thank the Minister of State for his sentiments in that regard. We must...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: I move amendment No. 31: In page 22, subsection (4)(a), line 23, to delete ", research". Reference was made to research. We have heard from the Minister of State that it is not a function which this body can exercise because it does not have the expertise in thermodynamics, nuclear science or whatever other area. Research is evaluated by the editors of international journals. The idea that...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill 2011: Committee Stage (29 Mar 2012)

Sean Barrett: I thank the Minister of State for his response and reference to the league tables. Trinity College Dublin, TCD, is 15th in the world in terms of citations of research. That is the constituency I represent. I do not denigrate the work carried out anywhere else. The equation of the decline in the league tables with so-called reputational damage is linked to the collapse of the banks and the...