Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. What is the purpose of a university? Is it to explore, research and engage in debate and the open exchange of ideas, as most people would expect and have always believed, or is it to ensure that everyone thinks the same, believes the same things, adopts the same ideological approach to topical issues, discounts the latest evidence-based research, and stifles academic freedom?

It is a real question that we have to ask because when I proposed amendments relating to freedom of expression to the universities Bill, the Minister assured us on that occasion that we should have no fear about limitations on freedom of speech for staff or students in third level colleges. Some months ago a staff member at the South East Technological University highlighted her concerns relating to freedom of expression in Irish universities. She has received no clarification from the Minister or his Department as to whether it was, in fact, "unlawful discrimination or harassment" for staff or students to refuse to use students' or staff members' preferred pronouns, as was claimed by the university. I want to stress that the lecturer in question is herself happy to use preferred pronouns, but not as a matter of obligation. She does not believe that staff or students should be compelled to say something that they might believe to be untrue.

In its gender identity and expression policy, that university describes as "unlawful discrimination or harassment" the refusal to use students' or staff members' preferred pronouns. Similar claims are made in the gender identity and expression policies of UCD, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and Trinity College; that is, that unwelcome pronoun behaviour is an "indicative example" of unlawful discrimination.

These gender identity and expression policies are at odds with Irish legislation. Irish equality legislation focuses on gender-sex and not on gender identity and rightly there is no compulsion in law on gender identity matters. The issue around gender identity arises in part because all Irish higher education institutions, HEIs, must participate in the Athena SWAN charter and eligibility for research funding is contingent on engagement with the charter. The Higher Education Authority, HEA, has explicitly stated that "HEIs stand to lose access to research funding if they do not achieve Athena SWAN awards within a set timeframe" and that HEIs would be ineligible for Environmental Protection Agency, Health Research Board, Irish Research Council and Science Foundation Ireland funding from January 2020 if they had not achieved specified Athena SWAN award status.

Essentially this compulsion to participate in the Athena SWAN charter means that certain ideas and philosophical beliefs are now compelled within Irish HEIs. The Athena SWAN charter requires that HEIs sign up to commit to the charter principles. Unfortunately, those principles, which most people thought were about equal opportunities for men and women in third level institutions, have chosen to reject the male-female binary, despite having no evidence base to do so. Thus the Athena SWAN charter impinges on academic freedom in Ireland by imposing a set ideological approach to certain contested beliefs, including the issue highlighted by the lecturer in SETU. Universities and higher education quangos, egged on by the Irish Government and international NGOs or bodies, are pushing norms and standards that are not evidence-based and are not required by law.

Ironically, participation in the Athena SWAN charter, which came from the UK, is not compulsory for UK HEIs and is not required there in order to be eligible for funding from the major research funding bodies. The National Institution for Health Research in the UK did require, for a time, HEIs to engage with the Athena SWAN charter to get research funding but this was dropped in 2020. Research funding in the UK is not now dependent on participation in Athena SWAN. There is the additional irony that the two most offensive principles which form part of the Athena SWAN UK charter were revised following a public critique of them and their potential impact on academic freedom. Crucially, however, those two principles remain in the Athena SWAN Ireland charter. It is madness.

Principle 5 of the charter requires a commitment to: "fostering collective understanding that intersectional inequalities must be accounted for in the development of effective equality analysis and actions" and principle 8 requires a commitment to:

... fostering collective understanding that individuals have the right to determine and affirm their gender, and to implementing inclusive and effective policies and practices that are cognisant of the lived experiences and needs of trans and non-binary people.

This is essentially the policing of thought on a highly controversial subject. Surely the job of a university is to facilitate open debate – not to "foster collective understanding" on such controversial matters.