Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Senator Power's amendment because it gives us an opportunity to discuss the matter. Having said that, Senator Power has already acknowledged that the numbers have increased since the first draft of the Bill was published. I looked back at the Bill as amended by the Select Sub-Committee and there were only four members appointed in accordance with subsection (9) and ten members in the local authority, with 18 members in total and now it has gone up to 21. At least now there is an opportunity for two members to be representatives of learners. In other words, of the five, at least one must be representative of learners but there is potential for two, as I read it. That is very welcome.

We all very much support the principle that there should be representatives of learners and in that context, I welcome the Minister's willingness to look at this again. However, he is right in not wanting to see the numbers increase to such an extent that the body becomes unwieldy. I do not know if there is a problem about 22 members as opposed to 21 - that does not seem to make a significant difference, other than the fact that it becomes an even number, which could pose problems. Having said that, the original 18 was also an even number, so perhaps it is not an issue at all. If there was a facility to increase to two the representatives of learners, that would be great, but I do see that even as currently drafted, we could end up with two learner representatives out of five anyway, which would be very welcome.