Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I was not aware that there were things like press releases which had to be sent in advance so that the media had an idea what one was about. To return to this issue, it might be the case that some change of wording here would, in an ideal world, be desirable but I am not sure that it is critical. The question of whether one would include the word "autonomous" or talk about students' unions as autonomous bodies appears to be an attempt to bolster a case that is a live issue in some universities and colleges in which students' unions do not want to be interfered with unduly by university or college authorities. While there is a huge amount to be said for students' unions having the elbow room they need to do what they do, at the end of the day it is a fact that the money that students' unions spend comes from students and is collected by college authorities on their behalf. I would be very wary of students' unions seeking arrangements whereby they have complete control over a pot of money but no accountability for how it is used. I fear that this building up of students' unions as autonomous groups is, in some way, in furtherance of that particular agenda.

I am a firm believer in accountability. If students' unions want complete control of the money that is available to them, they should collect it directly from the students themselves. Some students would decline to opt in, but it is not an opt-in situation at present. The money is collected from students by college authorities and then disbursed, whether students like it or not, to students' unions. I am very leery of moving in that direction.

As a general principle, this legislation clearly provides for the important voice of students on governing bodies and, by extension, on academic councils and so on. I do not favour getting over-prescriptive in this legislation. It opens up debates which could be quite protracted and could involve other groups claiming an equal right to the same specificity. We are moving to a competency-based system for the governing bodies of our third level institutions and that is a good thing in terms of the institutions being served well by their governance structures. I favour the status quofor that reason. This Bill strikes the balance but leaves the necessary room to manoeuvre in the future in cases where it might be needed.