Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and congratulate him on his elevation.

It is proven that countries that invest in research power ahead. If one takes New Zealand and South Korea, there is a reason why they have managed so well with the coronavirus. Apart from excellent political leadership, they have highly-developed innovation and research sector. In Ireland, we pride ourselves on our high standard of education at all levels and it is a significant factor in attracting foreign direct investment into the country. The same is true for research and development. Irish academics and researchers have been to the forefront of our very successful efforts so far in the Covid-19 area and many are world leaders in their profession. We trust their authority and their objective independence. This balance must be maintained in any new Department that is formed.

Covid-19 has also revealed deep fault lines in our higher education output. Take the example of the Academy of Clinical Science and Laboratory Medicine. Yesterday its AGM was told that the pandemic had demonstrated how much Ireland requires the expertise of medical scientists to respond to public health issues, yet there is a serious staffing shortage and retention challenges across all Irish hospitals and laboratories. Ireland lags behind our European counterparts in relative numbers of medical scientists. We need investment in this sector. Indeed, one of my colleagues adverted to the poor employment conditions that apply to casual workers in the higher education sector.

I wish to pay tribute to the former Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Ms Mary Mitchell O'Connor, who battled hard for the sector when she became the country's first Minister of State with responsibility for higher education. In a very short time she pushed through several reforms and I have no doubt that the Minister, Deputy Harris, is excellently placed to build on these. In mentioning the former Minister of State, Ms Mitchell O'Connor, it would be wrong of me to pass through today's debate without drawing attention to the fact that as a Minister of State, she remained unpaid for her duties while sitting at the Cabinet table. Even though I have spent most of my life in the trade union movement fighting for equal terms for comparable roles across various areas in education, it rings a little hollow to come in here to set up a new "super-junior" Ministry at a time when there are thousands of people who will not see work for perhaps years.

There has been a lot of talk about higher education, researchers, innovators and so on. The one place that has not had the degree of attention it requires is the further education sector. I thank Limerick College of Further Education, formerly Limerick Senior College, where I started my second-chance education at the age of 35. Without the expertise of the teachers who were committed to second-chance learners like myself, I would never have gone on to take a degree with the London School of Economics and a postgraduate qualification from the University of Limerick. As we move forward with this Department, I am delighted to see further education in there with higher education. I hope, however, it is not going to become the poor relation in the middle of the higher education, or have higher education taking the bulk of the funding and leave little for further education. Senator Kyne mentioned Galway Technical Institute, which is another wonderful institution in Galway delivering programmes similar to what one finds in Limerick College of Further Education and various other parts of the country. In Cork, there are several further education colleges doing a fantastic job.

In 1996 I held my first meeting to try to get the colleges of further education recognised as a separate and distinct sector in Irish education. One of the grave concerns I had all through my 20-odd years of teaching in further education was the inability to seamlessly transfer students from further education into higher education. We had more success sending students to institutions in Wales, Bristol, Scotland generally and Edinburgh in particular than we had in sending them to our local universities. Thankfully people like Professor Brian MacCraith of DCU changed a lot of that. The Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown, Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology and others all changed individually but it did not happen as a sector, as a group.I taught a session in computer networks where my students qualified at level six. When they transferred into an institute of technology, they had to retake level six because it was not Higher Education and Training Awards Council, HETAC, level six but Further Education and Training Awards Council, FETAC, level six. Quality and Qualifications Ireland has changed some of that but it was about the mindset that controlled that. I am asking for Education and Training Boards Ireland to have a place at the table along with the Higher Education Authority and others. It should have an equal voice and get an equal opportunity to look for funding. It is extremely important that this is the direction we go in.