Seanad debates

Wednesday, 21 February 2018

Technological Universities Bill 2015: Report Stage

 

10:30 am

Photo of Alice-Mary HigginsAlice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

"In so far as possible" can be interpreted quite heavily and has been in the past. "In so far as practicable" and "in so far as possible" have been a point of legal debate in this country in the past. There could be a genuine concern, when saying "in so far as possible", that there could be an opportunity for a new area of research to be entrepreneurial in that it may create profit for somebody, perhaps something that has military applications or a medication could be researched and it would be entrepreneurial for a less expensive medication not to be made available. These are key concerns. Will there be points where we say that the technological university has a responsibility in so far as possible in the performance of its functions to promote entrepreneurship? We have a concern about this.

I want to see entrepreneurial development and new companies developing. I am entirely in favour of that. Where there is public interest, concern about creativity and, crucially, engaged citizenship and going through the function of democracy, I want those to be given just as much value and concern when we are deciding it. I do not want a situation where a university has this thrown in its face, so to speak, if, for example, it chooses not to go in a direction that may be more profitable in the short term but may be counter to long-term public interest. If the Bill had stated "promoting entrepreneurial actions" or "promoting entrepreneurial activities", nobody would be complaining. That is fine. There is a word that is very heavily attached in that section, so in that sense, I echo the concerns of last time. I will not go into it at further length.

I will speak to amendment No. 6 which relates to that key responsibility. We spoke about the development of the regions. Many of the universities and institutes of technology, which will be our future technological universities, that we have often serve regions which encompass Gaeltacht areas. We have that in Donegal, Galway and the Ring Gaeltacht in Waterford, among many other areas. This is a very practical amendment put forward by Senator Grace O'Sullivan, not exclusively because of those areas but because of the general rights of all citizens in ensuring the promotion of the Irish language. I did not cosign it. I am just speaking in support of it. It is about promoting the Irish language and collaborating with regional and national agencies to that end. This is bliain na Gaeilge. We are in the year of the Irish language. If we do one thing in bliain na Gaeilge, let us make sure that we bear it in mind in a proper way and that, when we look through legislation, we look at how it will serve all regions of our country, including those Gaeltacht areas, and all citizens of our country by including their first language and the promotion of that language. I will support the amendment.

Amendment No. 6 relates to amendment No. 5 in that it is a real regret that the idea of a representative of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, an external member, being included, which was the proposal from our colleagues across the House in the Labour Party, was blocked. While the Minister of State will say that we have the Teachers Union of Ireland, TUI, we have the representatives of the interests of the staff. If one wanted to have the stakeholders in society, surely unions are as much stakeholders in society in that wider perspective as those who may be business holders or business operators?

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