Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to speak to amendment No. 51, which is a significant amendment in the context of the advocacy role. This is something that I raised and discussed on Committee Stage. It concerns the relationship between the Minister and the Department and the HEA. One of the elements that will be crucial is the memorandum of understanding that will be entered into between the Department and an t-údarás. I understand the position that Senator Higgins is coming from. However, it does beg the question as to whether an t-údarás could freely express its view on almost any matter with regard to higher education, which is what this amendment would provide. While it is right for the HEA - the legislation allows for this - to provide statistics and information and contribute towards the public debate, what this would allow would be for an t-údarás to act almost independently of the Minister. At the end of the day, the Minister is the one who is ultimately accountable to the public for what happens within the higher education system. The job of the Higher Education Authority is to advise, regulate and so on, but it is not the HEA's role to set broad higher education policy. In that regard, while I understand Senator Higgins's position and I agree that it is important that public debate is influenced by information and statistics being put out there, the relationship between the Department and an t-údarás is going to be crucial. To include the type of provision proposed would inevitably potentially lead to conflict and would cause me some concern.

Academic autonomy is well protected in this Bill, and within other legislation, so there is nothing to prevent higher education institutions, as they do quite freely now, from speaking out on any higher education issue. A university president is entitled to speak on an issue of concern to him or her and, on occasion, has even disagreed with Government policy in particular areas. The question here, however, concerns an t-údarás speaking out, which is different in that it is a State agency and does not enjoy the same level of autonomy. In that regard, I have significant difficulty with amendment No. 51. Speaking from experience, it is crucial that the memorandum of understanding that is entered into between the Department and an t-údarás around functions and roles will be particularly important.