Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We were very disappointed last week not to get cross-party support, particularly from Fianna Fáil, for the motion we tabled regarding the review of the areas of natural constraint, ANC, scheme. The reason given by Fianna Fáil for not giving its support related to the timing of the motion, which coincided with the deliberations of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. To avoid any excuses this week, I want to inform the House that I will be putting the motion forward for debate tomorrow because inequalities in farm incomes must be addressed. This ANC review is a significant opportunity to ensure that payments reflect the challenges faced by those farming in areas of genuine natural constraint. I look forward to that debate tomorrow and I hope Fianna Fáil will have caught up by then.

We learned today that several universities have tens of millions of euro in private trusts and foundations that they have not declared in their accounts. We learned that Galway University Foundation Ltd., has assets in excess of €57 million while University College Cork has assets of €17 million and the University of Limerick has assets of €15 million. The independent audit also cites widespread non-compliance with procurement rules as well as over-the-top salary payments worth hundreds of thousands of euro. How can we have confidence in any sector in this country any more? It is shocking that external intervention can only take place with the agreement of these universities. If emergency legislation is needed in order to facilitate proper scrutiny of exactly what is going on, then it must be drawn up and the Minister for Education and Skills must put it in place immediately. Once again, we have seen that there is absolutely no accountability and transparency on the part of individuals or sectors - individuals who are paid enormous salaries to manage public funds. This is not acceptable at a time when many institutions are struggling to retain staff and many staff are surviving on term-to-term rolling contracts. At a time when parents are struggling to pay fees in order to send their children to university and are being denied SUSI grants, it is appalling that these institutions would have millions in these trusts and not even show them on their accounts. The Cassells report on the future funding of third-level institutions called for an immediate injection of €75 million in current funding and €30 million in capital funding for universities.

In Mayo, we are witnessing an attempt to downgrade the Castlebar campus of GMIT by stealth. The Minister for Education and Skills continues to sit on his hands while staff at the Mayo campus are pressurised-----