Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support Senator Quinn's comment about not amending the Bill here. I understand the Minister has explained that it was not ready in time in the Department, but I genuinely do not understand why we have the Bill back if the amendments are not ready. Perhaps the Minister could elaborate on why there is a rush to get this legislation through.
To be fair, there is a lot of education expertise in this House that does not exist in the Dáil. People frequently tell me that, on education issues in particular, because we have the expertise of university Senators and others who take a particular interest in education, people pick up on things here that are not picked up on in the Dáil. Language is better understood and we have more deliberative and intelligent debates around language and wording. It is unfortunate that we will not get to do that concerning the issues that have been raised by the university Senators previously. We thought we might be discussing those amendments today.
The Minister said that if the Dáil amends the Bill it will come back here for us to discuss amendments made by the Dáil, but what if the Dáil misses those points? The Minister will be tabling amendments and will discuss them with Deputies, but she will not have Senators Barrett, Quinn, Crown, Craughwell and others who have a particular interest in education.
The Minister's predecessors have said during education debates here that there is a standard of interest and expertise in this House that is useful in formulating legislation. I will be talking to our party's Dáil spokesperson on education about the language that is put forward in the Dáil, and I am sure others will also. It is unfortunate, however, that the university Senators will not be part of that debate, unless the Bill reverts to the Seanad if the Dáil amends it. In that case we can discuss the changes, but otherwise we will not have an opportunity to raise those points when the Bill finally comes back to us at the very end. It is a missed opportunity.
I know the Minister did not commence this Bill, but it was published on a Thursday and discussed here the following Wednesday. I happened to be away for work at the time. I had left when the schedule came in, and our Whip's office phoned me to say there was an education Bill on Wednesday. I had no idea what it was, so we had to scramble around. The best I could get was an article in The Irish Timesthat reported that it was a Bill for the Royal College of Surgeons. That was the first time I heard that it mainly concerned that college. The Bill was published and debated in this House within a matter of days, but that is not the best way to make policy. Best practice is for the Minister to consult with people, flag that the Bill is coming, publish it and give us some time to consider it before it arrives in the House. I hope that is how we will deal with education legislation in future.