Seanad debates

Tuesday, 20 September 2011

Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Bill, 2011: Second Stage (Resumed)

 

5:00 pm

Photo of Brian Ó DomhnaillBrian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)

I am pleased to see the Minister in the Chamber this evening to bring forward the legislation which will standardise qualifications in the third level sector. We must be mindful that it will also save the taxpayer money. The anecdotal figure is that savings in the region of €1 million will be made through the amalgamations. I very much welcome the Bill. The previous Government supported such a move and we on this side of the House will support the legislation. As previous speakers indicated, the legislation arises from the efficiency review which was carried out by the Department in 2008. It follows on from the publication of the OECD report, Towards an Integrated Public Service, in 2008 and the McCarthy report, which recommended the amalgamation of various authorities including HETAC and FETAC, the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland and the Irish Universities Quality Board.

The Minister is not proceeding with the recommendation of the previous Government on the abolition of the National University of Ireland. I agree with him in that regard. I lobbied my own Ministers at the time not to abolish the National University of Ireland because it was fulfilling a useful and important purpose both nationally and internationally to the universities it served and in terms of the status of the qualifications obtained by the students who attended the constituent colleges.

As previous speakers outlined, the establishment of the qualification and quality assurance association of Ireland is being welcomed by each of the organisations which is being amalgamated. That is something we should acknowledge. The designated chief executive of the National Qualifications Association of Ireland, Dr. Padraig Walsh, has welcomed the Bill before the House. FETAC and HETAC, the NQAI and the IUQB have placed a united statement on the FETAC website welcoming the legislation.

FETAC, HETAC and NQAI and IUQB are agreed that this move strengthens a focus on high quality learning experiences across all education and training provision nationally. The strength of current quality assurance systems will grow, opening up new opportunities for people to engage and succeed in learning.

It is all about providing opportunities for older citizens and young people to further themselves within a learning experience following the qualification they achieve be it a certificate, diploma, degree or fourth level qualification. It is about giving people an opportunity to better themselves within society, whether in terms of attending further education and opening up doors in that regard or to obtain employment. That is important in the current economic environment where approximately 100,000 people who were employed in the construction sector nationally lost their jobs and are seeking retraining. It is important that there would be a standardised approach but also that there would be opportunity of access available to people as well. If the proposed legislation does all of that plus save the taxpayer money then we must acknowledge and welcome it.

The Minister referred to the establishment of the board in his opening remarks. I welcome the fact that he is considering having a representative from USI on the board. That is particularly important given the viewpoint represented by USI at student level. He also mentioned that learners and the international experience would be represented, which is important. When the Minister was a member of the Joint Committee on Education and Science, as I was, the heads of the universities were before us. We spoke about the benefit to Irish universities of looking to attract international students into the system. That is something we must look towards. The funding of third level education is a debate for another day. One avenue to increase funding available to the sector is to have international students coming into the system. The new structure will provide a standardised approach. Reference was made to the Netherlands and Spain where, according to the reports we have read, the new system is working effectively. A single authority would be of benefit if it can open the door to encouraging universities to consider bringing in international students. We will see benefits if the new standardised authority is able to provide a better international template of the qualifications that are being obtained.

I have a query which may not be related to the authority which is being established but it is linked to third level education and the opportunities therein. I refer to access to education. A teacher came to a clinic in my constituency last night who had spent 25 years teaching.

He is earning a gross salary of €68,000. His wife has multiple sclerosis, which is a debilitating medical condition. She is obtaining a small benefit for that. They have three children going into third-level education and the registration fees being charged by each college - in Dublin, Limerick and Galway - are approximately €2,200. The cost of sending those three children to college is €37,500. The net pay of that public servant is about €37,000, while his wife is in receipt of about €12,000, and they are unable to meet those costs.

We all talk about the most vulnerable in society, but these now include middle-income earners who are being penalised by all the additional charges. They cannot obtain third-level grants that are available to those on social welfare or lower income earners, so they and their children are being squeezed. The Minister should examine this matter to see what can be done to facilitate equal access and opportunities for such students entering third-level education. They should not be penalised because of the way the system operates.

The McCarthy report recommended that the National University of Ireland should be abolished with a net saving of about €3 million to the Exchequer. The figures presented by the NUI, however, show the cost was approximately €1.36 million. In addition, tax receipts to the Exchequer were valued at €500,000 so the overall cost of running the NUI was about €800,000. The McCarthy report got its figures wrong in that case.

I welcome the fact that the NUI will remain in its current format. I also welcome the legislation which shows that there is a joined-up approach to amalgamating agencies in order to cut down on the number of perceived quangos, streamline the system and make it more effective. The amount of taxpayers' money being spent will thus be reduced and this should be replicated across other Departments also.

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