Seanad debates

Wednesday, 6 July 2022

Higher Education Authority Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed)

 

10:00 am

Photo of Rónán MullenRónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

If we are going to have citizens’ assemblies, let us ensure that this democratically elected Assembly is allowed to do its work in full.

I wish to speak to my own amendments. Again, I must start with a mea culpabecause they are in the wrong place. The moral of the story is perhaps not to burn the midnight oil. The amendments I am proposing here relate to the issue of consultation with students in the context of the strategic development plan of the college and the equality statement. I submitted these for the part of the Bill that relates to the National College of Art and Design, NCAD. Properly speaking, what I submitted by way of a proposed amendment to section 128 should really be in section 61, and what I submitted with regard to section 129 should really be in section 62. As previously noted, however, the position is the same.

Sections 61 and 62 provide for consultation with students or the students' union of the institution. That is what it refers to in the context of the preparation of a strategic development plan and the preparation of an equality statement. The point, which my colleagues made already, is that it is really important to recognise the role of students' unions with all their history and the fact that they are elected by students. They have a particular role. They are funded by universities. They are actually funded by students at the fee payment stage, notwithstanding free education. Some thousands are paid by way of a capitation fee, if that is the correct term, and that goes inter aliato the funding of students' unions, clubs, societies and many other activities.It is very important that this money always be disbursed by the university or students' union fairly and with an eye to equality. The students' union is in a particularly important place but the way the legislation is currently worded appears to provide that it would be not be necessary to consult with students' unions. Rather it provides for consultation with students or with the students' union of the institution in question. As I read it, and I hope the Minister will correct me if I am wrong, it would not actually be necessary to consult with students' unions under these sections. The designated institution would simply have to satisfy the requirement of consulting with students, although the Bill does not specify which students. My amendments propose to replace "or" with "and". The point is that those to be consulted in relation to these matters must include students' unions. However, I also favour consultation with those beyond the students' unions because there are times when the students' unions might not be fully representative. The obligation should therefore be to consult broadly. The consultation obligation should never depart from including students' unions but it may also be appropriate to consult with other clubs and societies or other gatherings of students who represent particular academic or other interests. You lose nothing by creating the broadest possible requirement for consultation. I hope the Minister will correct me if I am wrong but, as the legislation stands, it would be possible to exclude students' unions from the consultation. I do not believe that is what is meant. Notwithstanding my own mistake, this problem can be remedied in sections 61 and 62. Replacing the word "or" with the word "and" in sections 61(4)(d) and 62(4)(d) would cure the defect.

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