Seanad debates
Wednesday, 24 May 2017
Order of Business
10:30 am
Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source
If the Cathaoirleach could do that, that would be good because it is important. I welcome the fact that the Minister of State is coming into the House.
Second, I want to raise again the issue of the Mayo campus of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, GMIT, and I commend the action group which has organised a public rally for this Saturday at 3 p.m. in Castlebar. I encourage everyone who cares about the advancement of education in Mayo to attend that rally.
It is never too late for the Taoiseach to do the right thing. Before he leaves office, together with his Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Richard Bruton, he can secure the future of the Mayo campus in his own town by, first, ring-fencing funding for the campus to support the growth and diversity of courses offered in that campus. He needs to put a stop to cuts at least until the Higher Education Authority, HEA, working group releases its report. He can guarantee full autonomy for the Mayo campus and, in the short term, he can appoint a minimum of four representatives to the GMIT governing body. It is not too late for the Taoiseach to wear the red and green jersey by enabling the Mayo campus to reach its full potential by fully utilising the human capital that is available through the highly-skilled staff in the Mayo campus.
I want to say how incensed I am by the bizarre series of calamities that led to the collapse of Seán FitzPatrick's trial yesterday. It is very clear that there has never been the political will to put in place the infrastructure to tackle white collar crime in this country. That is a crime in itself. Reckless lending and corporate corruption cost citizens of this State over €67 billion and it costs citizens almost €7 billion each year just to service this private banking debt that was nationalised. Tom Gilmartin must be spinning in his grave today, and who pays? The Taoiseach in waiting said that he wants to represent those who get up early in the morning, those people from Dungarvan to Doohama. What about the citizens who have suffered as a result of the corruption and cronyism of white collar crime in this country, the people who cannot get up early in the morning because they suffer excruciating pain because they are waiting for hospital treatment-----
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