Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I fully support the amendment and the sentiments expressed by Senator Norris. His amendment goes to the very core of our belief system and education. It brings to mind the vacuous statement that has been kicked around the place in recent years that Ireland should be the best little country in the world in which to do business. It really worries me that a Senator of such standing as Senator Norris must table an amendment like this one to scratch away at the very foundation ethos of what we are trying to build.

Are we trying to create economic units to fit into an economy? Do we believe in the liberation of education? The problem is there is a suspicion or a preconceived idea, which may be unfair, that the Bill, the Government and the Department lean towards industry and commerce and not towards the liberation of the mind. With that in mind, my party and I have on three separate occasions, in three different ways, and with three different wordings tried to ensure a member from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, could sit on the board of the governing authority for each technological university. Unfortunately, my party and I have been rebuffed three times. We simply tried to find a counterbalance to the entrepreneurial spirit that will be enshrined in the Bill.

The amendment tabled by Senator Norris and supported by Senator Grace O'Sullivan is crucial. It goes to the very heart of what we, in this Republic, fundamentally believe in when it comes to education. I believe that we should live in a society and not an economy. The purpose of education is to free the mind and not purely to produce entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurial spirit is fine and good. It is important for an economy but it is not the reason that we live. It is not the reason that blood courses through our veins or that hair stands up on the back of our necks. Amendment No. 5 is possibly one of the most crucial amendments that we will debate and it will be illuminating to hear the Minister of State's reaction.