Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

As we face into a new session, I welcome some of the Bills on the legislative programme, albeit a fairly light one. In particular, I welcome the disability Bill and the Bill on the judicial council. I also welcome the fact that we will have An Taoiseach with us tomorrow and be able to raise a number of issues with him.

I ask the Leader for a debate on third level funding, when we can arrange it, over the coming weeks. Today I attended, as did many colleagues, an excellent briefing with USI, SIPTU, IFUT and other unions as part of the coalition for publicly-funded higher education. This is a matter of increasing urgency. We need to put pressure on the Government to take a decision on foot of the recommendations in the Cassells report. Many of us will be pushing for an increase in public funding, which the Cassells report acknowledges is the primary aim and need. We saw university rankings slip over the summer and, therefore, this has become increasingly urgent. However, there is good news for the universities. This Friday night we will have a festival of research in Trinity College Dublin. It is called PROBE and is being facilitated by the Science Gallery. Senator Norris will be one of the speakers at the festival. It will showcase some of the important research that is being done in universities. It is open to the public and all are welcome. It will show how important higher education is as a sector in Ireland.

I ask the Leader for a debate on Syria in light of the appalling crisis we are seeing unfolding there, with the Syrian Government and Russia effectively abandoning the peace process.