Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank all Senators for their contributions. I acknowledge and thank them for the constructive debate we had on Committee Stage. I will give some explanation as to why I did not table amendments on Report Stage. I had not at any stage indicated that I would table an amendment on this issue. I will table amendments on protecting the names of Irish universities, and perhaps others, but we have not been able to draft them sufficiently well to bring them before the Seanad. Amendments made in the Dáil will have to come before the Seanad because the Bill was initiated here. I will address those issues when we deal with amendments at a later stage. I regret that I did not have time to properly draft amendments on Report Stage in the Seanad.

I do not think we can introduce a piece of legislation that is confined to one institution which, as Senators correctly pointed out, will be able to benefit, namely, the RCSI. I do not think it is right that we would pre-empt any other institution from reaching the standards that would be required to use the term "university" and it would only apply outside the State, as we discussed. It would be open to other institutions, if they fulfil the strict criteria involved.

Section 2(1) of the Bill refers to doctorate level under the Irish qualifications framework. There is no question that another country could decide that an institution qualifies to be a university. It has to qualify under the Irish qualifications framework, through the HEA, and be at doctorate level. The criteria only relate to bodies outside the State, therefore the title can only be used outside the State.

The RCSI is likely to benefit in the immediate future, but it would not be correct to have a piece of law which excluded any other institution in the future which might reach the strict qualifications and make the case to call itself a university outside the State for the purposes, as Senator Power said, of international students and internationalisation which, I am sure Senators will agree, are positive for the country. I am glad Senator Power clarified her point. I do not think anybody is questioning the standards of the RCSI, rather, the question is whether other institutions might not meet the required standards. The Bill is very specific; they have to reach the qualifications within the Irish framework of qualifications.

On calling it the Royal College of Surgeons Bill, the Bill is not just about calling an institution a university outside the State. It contains an important element regarding PLC students being eligible for student grants. Everybody would want to make sure that we do not exclude further education students from obtaining grants.

Another element, about which I know there are differing views, is the use of information for league tables, something we want to exclude. We will debate the issue later. As the Bill contains three elements we would not want to change its name.