Results 6,701-6,720 of 45,495 for speaker:Simon Harris

Seanad: Higher Education Authority Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: In respectfully disagreeing, I would make the point that we have quite rightly included specific references to trade unions in many places in this legislation. I would be the first to admit that the Bill is much stronger now in that regard than when it was originally published. I thank Senators and Deputies for their work in that regard. I wish to add one thing to the point I made earlier...

Seanad: Higher Education Authority Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: I thank the Senators for their contributions. I appreciate what Senator Higgins is trying to do with these amendments. I assure the House that all Ministers take data protection assessments as well as data protection seriously and are governed in our duties by the GDPR. We sought the views of the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, OPC, on this matter and consulted the Data Protection...

Seanad: Higher Education Authority Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: I am happy to explore in detail the important broader issues when the research Bill is before the House next year. For the purposes of this legislation, though, I am satisfied, from consulting with the Data Protection Commissioner's office and seeking the legal advice of the OPC during the development of the Bill, that the amendments are not required due to the 2018 Act's provisions on data...

Seanad: Higher Education Authority Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: This is a large grouping, so I ask Senators to bear with me. I begin with the issue of students' unions as raised by Senator Clonan and other amendments in this regard.At this Stage of the legislation, I suggest that we need distinct, separate legislation regarding student unions. I had this conversation with some student union representatives. I welcomed the president of the Union of...

Seanad: Higher Education Authority Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: We will get to that in a moment. I disagree. That context is important because that is the policy intent. On the issue of students or student unions, the definition of students set out sections 80, 90, 112 and 128 includes the student union. The interpretation of the word "students" is a student or student union. I sought legal advice on this. The reference to students means all...

Seanad: Higher Education Authority Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: It is firm language. I have also received advice from the Attorney General and the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. I accept the seriousness of the issue the Senator is raising. That advice is in line with the response I have just given. The legal advice is that it is not a substantive provision conferring any new power on a Government or a Minister but rather it is reporting against...

Seanad: Higher Education Authority Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: I could adopt a certain approach and say we do not share legal advice. I am trying to be transparent with the House. I have also sought legal advice on the 11 separate amendments relating to institutions of higher education having systems, procedures and processes in place to implement and report compliance with policies. Three of the proposed amendments refer to statutory provisions,...

Seanad: Higher Education Authority Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: I have great time for Senator Clonan. Disagreement is not a bad thing but I do fundamentally disagree with him on this point. I ask people to accept my bona fides that we are going to bring forward legislation. Nobody in this House has bothered to do that in the past. I do not mean the Members of this Oireachtas and I do not say that about anybody in this House. We, as an Oireachtas,...

Seanad: Higher Education Authority Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: It does, but the Universities Act does not. Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin are not governed to that effect. The panel the Senator represents in this House is not governed by the Technological Universities Act. It stands over a situation where one must be an elected officer of a students union. Many students who are delighted to be members of students unions and...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: Ageist.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: European Union (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: Ireland’s ESF+ Programme for 2021-27 has been prepared by the ESF Managing Authority in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. Following Government approval, the draft Programme was formally submitted to the European Commission on 22 July 2022. The European Commission are now assessing the draft Programme and may make observations on its...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 416 and 435 together. The National Student Accommodation Strategy set a target of at least an additional 21,000 bed spaces being constructed nationally by 2024. The PBSA bed-space projections in the report considered the plans of higher education institutions, and planning permission applications from private sector developers. The strategy also...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: Co-funding of €7.7m was approved for a new Sports Science, Health and Recreation building for TU Dublin (Tallaght Campus). The institute has a high demand for courses in this area and the Tallaght campus will provide the hub for Sports Science within TU Dublin. The project is currently on site and is due for completion by Q4 2022. On 18th August 2020 a 5,159m2Culinary Arts, Engineering...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: Sanction was provided for the salary to be applied in the case of any individual occupying the role of President of TU Dublin at a salary level equivalent to that previously applied to the President of the predecessor Dublin Institute of Technology. Under the terms of the TU Act 2018, a person who was the president of a dissolved predecessor institute of technology is entitled to become a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 419, 420, 421, 422, 424 and 425 together. The specific detail as to which persons are in receipt of which salary at a point in time would be a matter for TU Dublin and is not data which is held by my Department. The email address president@tudublin.ie would be the most appropriate contact details for TU Dublin, should the Deputy wish to contact them directly...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: Sanction was provided in July 2021 for the appointment of a number of senior posts at Director and Dean level in TU Dublin to form part of the TU Dublin University Executive Team. This sanction was subject to certain conditions as approved by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 426 and 427 together. Technological universities (TUs) are autonomous higher education institutions as provided for under the Technological Universities Act 2018. Section 11 of the 2018 Act provides that a TU shall have a governing body to perform the functions of the university under the Act. In this context neither I nor my Department has a role in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Technological Universities (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: Employees in Higher Education Institutions have a number of industrial relation mechanisms available to them and queries on employment matters are addressed first and foremost at a local level, either where an employee may raise a query directly with their employer or by having a query raised on their behalf by their union representatives. In the event that a satisfactory outcome is not...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: Both my Department and I are of the view that enabling appropriate access to finance is one of the significant requirements for the delivery by higher education institutions of purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) and my officials continue to engage with counterparts in relevant Government Departments and other relevant stakeholders including HEIs to explore potential options and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (20 Sep 2022)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 430 and 431 together. Irish Universities have autonomy to borrow in their own name within a framework to be agreed with the HEA, the Dept of Finance and Dept of Public Expenditure and Reform. Section 38 of the Universities Act, 1997 states that: ( 1) A university may borrow money by means of bank overdraft or otherwise and may guarantee or underwrite a loan...