Lorraine Higgins (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am raising the approach of the National University of Ireland Galway, NUIG, to gender among its academic ranks. The Minister of State may be aware that in December 2014, an NUIG academic, Dr. Micheline Sheehy Skeffington, won an Equality Tribunal case against the university for discrimination on the basis of gender in the 2009 round of promotions to senior lecturer. Dr. Sheehy Skeffington is the first female academic to have achieved this outcome in Ireland.

One of the consequences of the case was the establishment of a task force to deal with gender equality in the university. Since then, the university's hiring policies and general staff promotion systems have come under scrutiny, which has been warranted, and many staff and students as well as the trade union are deeply dissatisfied and concerned about how the newly-convened task force will function. SIPTU, for example, has advised its members on the NUI Galway campus not to co-operate with the task force as it has not engaged in consultations about its establishment. The trade union went as far as describing the task force as "an effort to waste time in the hope that the issue will blow over, and with the expectation that the results from their handpicked panel will, in all essentials, be a whitewash".

Among SIPTU's concerns, which are echoed by Dr. Sheehy Skeffington and her many supporters among the staff and students of NUI Galway, are that the task force lacks transparency and was not independently constituted and that no assurances have been given with regard to confidentiality. This lack of buy-in by those who are close to the issue raises serious questions about the suitability of the task force as it stands. While I have no doubt that all parties to the problem wish to see it resolved, the issue has been greatly exacerbated by the decision, as reported in a local Galway newspaper, by the chair of the governing body of NUI Galway to decline to meet elected representatives and Oireachtas Members to discuss their concerns about gender equality issues at the university.

Despite everything that has gone before, I welcome the recent remarks made by the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, in which she asserted that proper consultation between concerned parties is required if the task force is to be effective. I hope that in the event that NUI Galway fails to address the concerns of many people regarding the effectiveness of the task force, the Minister will continue to exert her influence in the matter.

On the issue of gender discrimination, it is clear that a cultural change is needed in NUI Galway and perhaps across the third level sector. To change this culture, we must face up to it, however awkward it may be to do so. An ineffectual and unrepresentative task force at this juncture will simply kick the can further down the road. All of the women at NUI Galway, both former and current and including academics, students and support staff, as well as women across the third level sector deserve equality of opportunity, no more and certainly no less. They have waited for long enough and deserve positive and determined action on this issue.

The Minister must give a commitment that she will continue to exert her influence on this critical matter in NUI Galway in respect of procedures. If we do not have faith in promotional opportunities and procedures at a third level institution, it will be a sad reflection on the students who come forward in years to come.