Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are a number of amendments to be covered here. Amendment Nos. 56 to 58, inclusive, seek to ensure that the list of bodies with which an t-údarás may co-operate under section 17 would include the Irish Research Council, the Royal Irish Academy and the Health Research Board. As we have discussed, it is important not to end up with a siloed approach. Science Foundation Ireland was mentioned explicitly, but other bodies have not been. There is a very wide remit of research.I have highlighted in particular the leading work the Irish Research Council has done in a number of areas and the Health Research Board also plays a crucial role. The aim is to specify that these would be bodies with which there may be co-operation. It is better to have them named rather than just implied or hoped for. In the context of a couple of them, the Minister indicated that there may be another way in which they are covered. However, I worry about a tunnelling of our approach to research, as I have highlighted previously, and the neglect of some areas, including social policy and the humanities.

Amendment No. 75 is really important. It seeks to ensure that local authorities and councillors would be persons or entities with whom an t-údarás would consult for the purposes of preparing a draft plan under section 46. In subsequent amendments I have tabled, there are provisions to retain the role of local authority members on governing authorities. It is vital that councillors, as local representatives, have a say on these governing authorities. I can give a couple of examples to illustrate why this is important. Universities are not just educational entities or businesses; they are places and they exist within other places. It is crucial that, for example, the role of universities in the context of local development plans is considered. There should be correspondence between a local development plan, which is a vision for a town or city and the role of the universities and the vision for the moving forward of an institution. In my own home town of Galway, the National University of Ireland Galway is a crucial part of the city landscape. It has much of the land by the river and is really fundamental in terms of all of the collective goals of Galway around biodiversity and other issues. It is really important. In Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, for example, University College Dublin, UCD, is one of the major employers in the area. There is a very key relevance here and in that context, it is appropriate that local authorities and councillors are specified as bodies or persons with whom there should be consultation when preparing a draft plan. They are included generally in terms of an t-údarás and looking to the general direction in terms of local authorities, but I want to specify them because down the line, in terms of individual governing authorities, it becomes even more important in the context of place-based expertise.

Amendment No. 84 provides that when preparing an equality statement under section 62, designated higher education institutions shall consult trade union representatives of both the academic and professional staff. Amendment No. 115 similarly provides that in preparing a strategic plan, the chief executive of a university shall consult trade union representatives of both academic and professional staff. These issues are really important and I have tabled a number of other amendments relating to them. When we talk about equality, the question of economic equality is crucial. It is acknowledged, for example, in the Athena SWAN charter, that in terms of gender equality, the conditions of work and conditions of employment, these economic factors, have a particular impact on women. We also know from the Citizen's Assembly on Gender Equality - and I am lucky enough to sit with others on the special Oireachtas committee on gender equality - that one of the key recommendations was the right to collective bargaining and an enhanced recognition of the role of trade unions. This is a really key issue. In the context of the equality statements and strategic plans, it is important that trade union representatives are included, not just for the academics but also for the many other professional staff who keep our universities and higher education institutions running.

Amendment No. 142, which is the final amendment of mine in this grouping, seeks to ensure that local authorities and city and county councillors would be bodies or persons with whom the director of the National College of Art and Design, NCAD, would consult for the purposes of developing a strategic development plan. This is consistent with the points I made previously and is a provision explicitly relating to NCAD because it is covered in a different section of the Bill.