John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

The legislation will give the governing bodies that flexibility.

It was timely to change the position regarding the removal of staff members, but protection is provided for the people who were appointed prior to the enactment of this legislation. Up until now an officer of an institute could not be removed from office by the Minister without a sworn inquiry first taking place, but such protection has been supplanted by strong employment legislation. Those appointments and all future appointments will be protected by that legislation.

Academic freedom is in no way diluted in this legislation. It strongly states that academic staff shall not be disadvantaged for the exercise of academic freedom. This is very important in all our institutions, and that is a mandatory provision in the legislation.

Whatever about the future of individual colleges, it is important that those in the colleges appreciate they are there to serve a particular mission, namely, their region and the broader needs of the students. They also have a strong economic mandate, as set out by Government, to make sure that we continue to meet the skills needs required. Those people in the colleges will benefit from the new strategy announced on science, technology and innovation worth €3.5 billion. That strategy will be largely targeted at the education sector in the first few years. I am confident that the institutes are well placed to gain from that, to develop it and to ensure that we continue to provide PhD graduates.

I accept the point made by Senator Daly that in the past some PhD graduates were not able to get employment. However, fortunately, with the development of fourth level education and the fact that many of the top companies that invest here carry out research and development here, which is what we have been trying to attract, there are opportunities for those holding PhDs that did not exist in the past.

Institutes having the status of being under the remit of the Higher Education Authority allows them greater freedom than they had in the past. Certainly they were well-minded and well looked after by my Department over the years but the fact that they will come under the remit of the authority will give them increased status.

Senator Quinn said that this would not have been done but for the OECD report, but that is wrong. I did not accept all the recommendations of the OECD report but this was one of its recommendations. Therefore, the OECD is backing what we are doing rather than our backing what it is doing.

I look forward to discussing other issues on Committee Stage and I thank the Senators for the interest they have shown in the legislation.