Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, and I will be taking the debate tonight. He will be here for some of it and I will be back for the rest of it.

I thank Senators for their amendments. I responded in July to some of these amendments and those responses still stand. I welcome Senator Warfield's acknowledgement that we have tried to strengthen the references to trade unions on a number of occasions throughout the Bill. I have previously given the view that being a competency-based board does not suggest that members of trade unions cannot be members of the competency-based board - of course they can. However, prescribing that they must be members, would make it a representational board which is not the purpose.

I take Senator Malcolm Byrne's point. While I do not propose to accept the amendment, as he rightly said, it has been custom and practice - it is nearly always the case - to have people with international backgrounds in education on the Higher Education Authority. I would expect that to continue, but it is important to give the Minister and future Ministers the discretion to pick the skill set that is needed to respond and look at the composition of the board in the round.