Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I second the amendment. We heard the news this week that Trinity College Dublin had introduced a €450 flat fee for examinations at undergraduate level. This move disregards the student voice that was balloted and overwhelmingly objected to such a move mainly because it would disproportionately affect the vulnerable among the student body. While students are represented at governing body level, this is an example where students have not been treated as equal partners by college management. The seats on governing and other decision-making bodies are ones for which historically and globally student unions have had to campaign and fight tooth and nail. They are mired in the struggle for legitimacy, the provision of student services, facilities and a better quality of life for students. Meaningful representation in the decision-making structures of a technological university gives an appreciation of what they trying to achieve. This is included in the HEA’s own policy via a report entitled, Enhancing Student Engagement in Decision Making, which lays out the benefits of fair student representation and how it is of value to an institution, emphasising that students must be treated as equal partners in the academic community. Furthermore, the Bologna Process recommends far greater student representation on all decision-making bodies than what is proposed, a recommendation that is implemented by many of our European counterparts and on which the State may have to answer if we are hindering its implementation. Perhaps the Minister might comment on the issue. Sinn Féin will support amendment No. 8 which has been proposed by Senators Alice-Mary Higgins and Lynn Ruane.