Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support Senators Barrett and Quinn. I have grave concerns about this Bill not specifying the educational institution I believe it has been designed to facilitate, namely, the Royal College of Surgeons. We already have one third-level institution in this country which is marketing its services on a for-profit basis and my fear is that some of the very high-powered international universities that market their services all over the world would come to Ireland and use it as a base or hub to market their services. I am also concerned that the bar has not been set as high as it has been set for a technological university to establish itself. I ask the Minister to consider restricting this Bill to the Royal College of Surgeons and ensuring that we do not allow Ireland to become a hub for sharp practice among those institutions internationally which would not aspire to the same standards we find in our fine national universities and Trinity College Dublin. I ask the Minister to reconsider that.