Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a large grouping, so I ask Senators to bear with me. I begin with the issue of students' unions as raised by Senator Clonan and other amendments in this regard.At this Stage of the legislation, I suggest that we need distinct, separate legislation regarding student unions. I had this conversation with some student union representatives. I welcomed the president of the Union of Students in Ireland, USI. We have all debated in this House, the other House, and in engagement with USI and others, how we properly address some of the legitimate issues and concerns that student unions have about ensuring absolute autonomy, ensuring proper representation and having absolute clarity about the rights, powers and definition of a student union. People can accept this in good faith or not, but I have genuinely tried to engage at many stages of this Bill to try to define student unions and such in a way that has been sought for a long time. I have received clear legal advice, which I put on the record of the House on Committee Stage, so I will not repeat it now. The advice stated that this Bill is not the appropriate place to define student unions and an unintended consequence of defining certain things in this Bill would be to narrow the scope of what a student union does.

I suggest in good faith, on the record of this House, that we should develop separate legislation specifically about student unions. We should seek to co-design it with student unions. I am happy to commence that process with USI. A full assessment with national and local student unions and other stakeholders would be required ahead of the drafting of the Bill. It has come up too many times in this House, the other House and in my engagement with student union representatives. The Oireachtas and Government have a duty to respond and to work with the student union movement to develop separate, distinct legislation on the definition of student unions, their powers, autonomy and so on. I wanted to say that about how we should deal with this more broadly.

This Bill tries to increase the voice of students and student unions in a number of ways, whether in section 33, 34, 35 or 46, in the strategic development plans of HEIs, the equality statements of HEIs, or in section 143. These are all places in the legislation where we have made a conscious and explicit effort to empower the voice of students and student unions. When student unions and USI came to tell me that we had got the numbers on the governing authorities wrong, I accepted that because they were right. We were proposing two. While I argued on earlier Stages of this legislation that having two would have increased the percentage of students in all but one governing authority after the legislation passes, the student unions outlined the practical issues regarding postgraduates, undergraduates, and the diverse voices that they wanted to include. We tabled an amendment and changed the draft law to increase the number to three. That context is important. There are specific issues that the student union movement wants us to go further on and to get right. We have approached this Bill with that policy intent. Where issues were highlighted about the composition and size of the governing authority, we responded by increasing the number to three. That means that the percentage of students compared with the rest of the members will be higher on every governing authority after this legislation passes. One would be forgiven for not hearing that fact, since I might be the only person saying it. I will say it because it is true. It is important and right. I think it is a success from the engagement. We will get to the composition of governing authorities in a moment.