Sean Barrett (Independent)

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 public finances and the need for the IMF rescue. I recognise that the Government is doing its level best to correct the reputational damage. Reputation is one part and the other part is due to the necessary adjustments in the public finances. Staff numbers have been cut back, which I support. Saying that will not make me popular with my colleagues but I recognise the situation this country is in. The problem is once one does that, as the Minister of State is aware, it is registered in the international tables as a decline in the staff-student ratio. Other people might say it represents an increase in productivity. One is caught in that if one does the right thing for the country, one goes down in the international rankings.

It is apparent from the college calendar that the research section expands every year. It is much bigger now than when I first went to TCD. There is no secret about the research. It is validated internationally because that is where it is published. Some research attracts international funding. If the QQAAI is not set up to evaluate research, one could ask why it would intervene in an area in which it has no expertise. The responsibility lies with individual academics who work in colleges. If we had to transfer responsibility to any other bureaucracy, it would be to the Higher Education Authority. There is no benefit in having an extra layer of bureaucracy outlining that a college was doing research. We know that; it is widely published internationally. That is the reason we were high in the rankings and why we are still high in many of the rankings in terms of research.

The legislation might work given the Minister and his liberal attitude to what we have before us, but it gives the next head of this quango and the next Minister unnecessary powers to meddle where none is needed at a time in this country when my strong view is that money should be invested in primary education. I am sure that is the view of the Minister as well. All the evidence is that this is where the important decisions are made. Research shows that spending in the primary area does not add to inequality.

The quango is required to ascertain, maintain and improve the quality of education. I maintain it has had no function in that regard to date. Reference is also made to training, research and related services provided by the provider, namely, universities. The body is virtually redundant. This is an unnecessary function which has no return for the taxpayer. I will not press the amendment. However, it is wrong in this country's current circumstances to pass documents around to allow bureaucratic expansion to take place and for people to put functions into legislation which they have no ability to carry out and which there is no need for them to carry out. Research is carried out and evaluated internationally. There is no need to have a quango doing it. I hope that when such Bills go before the Cabinet, the Minister for Finance asks for the justification for spending money on them. The work is being done already and if in future we get yet more monitoring of research that is already monitored internationally, that is just duplication and triplication, for which much of the Bill provides. I will withdraw the amendment.