Joe O'Toole (Independent)

Before the summer recess, the House discussed the developments in Marino College at some length. I have become aware of some disquieting developments in the college over the past month. They entered the public domain today so I thought I should raise the issue. Put simply, the authorities in the Department of Education and Science entered discussions with the authorities in Marino College. They came to a certain level of agreement as to how business should be conducted in the college and how it should be run in the future. This was an accepted and agreed position and on that basis, a member of staff agreed to accept the position as interim college president. However, when it came to establishing that individual's contract, all the demands and conditions which had been set down by the Department of Education and Science were reversed to such an extent that the person rejected the offer. Two senior members of staff have also resigned on the same basis.

I do not want to open the discussion here but rather wish to give Members a flavour of my concerns. It would be appropriate for the Minister for Education and Science to address the House and bring it, as much as possible, up to date. She now has information she did not previously possess. An investigation was held and many attempts have been made to get this working correctly but there are still difficulties. Public money and students' careers are involved and we must know where we are going on the issue.

I asked whether we could debate another matter, namely, where Ireland stands on environmental issues, the Kyoto Agreement, etc. Much of the discussion focuses on the area of oil, the costs to our economy and what we are doing wrong. We must take a positive view in respect of this matter. I would welcome a debate with the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources on his views concerning wind energy, solar energy, wave energy and geothermal heating. I particularly wish to know how these can be made attractive to ordinary householders. Grants were available to householders not too long ago, perhaps sometime during the past 25 years, for making certain improvements to their houses. We could meet many of our Kyoto targets were every house in Ireland to have a 1 kilowatt wind generator, be properly insulated and have some element of solar power. How can we make this attractive and give support? Taking a proactive approach to this issue rather than keeping the debate centred on the cost of oil would save us money in the long term.