Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am not sure if amendment No. 69 belongs in this grouping, but I will not waste our time by challenging groupings. While I think amendment No. 69 deals with quite a different point, I will not delay us by proposing alternative groupings.

Amendments Nos. 60 and 61 relate to the appointment of the chief executive under this Act. Amendment No. 60 would provide that "A person may not be appointed as Chief Executive where, in the last 3 years, they have been directly employed by the Government or a Minister thereof." The Minister of State will be aware that issues of reforms of our standards in public office and so on have been discussed, including ensuring appropriate separations, cooling-off periods, and discussions about ensuring that we do not have too immediate a transition of persons from working directly for a Minister to this extremely powerful role as created by this legislation. We know that concerns have been expressed about other boards, where there are persons who have moved directly from Government roles into the roles of these bodies which are meant to operate with a separate mandate and remit. This would try to ensure that there is a cooling-off period and that this body does not have a chief executive who was directly employed by the Government or a Minister in the previous three years.

Amendment No. 61 suggests that a person who is appointed as chief executive should not hold shares with a value in excess of €30,000. This comes back to a similar issue regarding people in positions of significant power. I will later address some powers that are ceded to the chief executive rather than the board of an t-údarás. The balance there is not right. Excessive discretionary power is given to the chief executive. We will deal with that in a separate section. The key point is that the chief executive needs to not only engage in best practice but to be seen to be fully independent and to operate in an independent way. The chief executive needs the confidence of the entire higher and further education sector. These would be prudent measures to ensure there is no risk of a perception of influence over a chief executive by Government or financial interests. Amendment No. 69 is important for the Irish Universities Association and many other bodies. It goes to that question of large discretionary powers. It will amend section 38, regarding conditions of funding, which states, “[f]unding that is provided by An tÚdarás to a funded body under section 37 shall be paid in such manner, and subject to such conditions, as the Chief Executive Officer specifies in writing to the body” by adding an important check and balance. Under this provision, the chief executive officer will be able to tell a body that the funding it gets will be subject to conditions he or she specifies or sets. The caveat I am trying to insert is simply such that where requirements are being placed on a body, that should be done with the approval of the HEA board. This is quite a significant power to be exercising. When the chief executive officer exercises such a power, he or she should check back with the HEA board and the board of an t-údarás.

Even if we look to the cross-sectional expertise we want to have on the board of an t-údarás, it is not plausible that the chief executive officer will have all the knowledge needed regarding the best path forward for every kind of further and higher education institution. If the chief executive officer's background is in science, for example, he or she may well have a good idea of certain conditions and expertise in certain financial matters but may well not have a good sense of the landscape or the impact of the conditions he or she may set in regard to another sector or institution within the diverse system that comprises all our higher education institutions. It seems the chief executive officer would benefit from going to the wider expertise of the board of an t-údarás when he or she is creating conditionalities. This is one appropriate point where a chief executive officer should check with the board.