Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----as he was during his time as Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works.

It is essential that this legislation align with the provisions within the HEA Act. Contrary to Senator Higgins's comments, we spent extensive time discussing that Act. There was a lot of pre-legislative scrutiny. The Minister at the time engaged a lot, as I am sure will be the hallmark of the new Minister's role in the Department. Given some of the regulatory functions which were given to the HEA in light of certain events happening in some institutions at the moment, they were the correct measures to take. As regards the opposition to some of the measures within the HEA Act, it is now shown why it is important to have effective regulation in this space. The Government approach at that time was the correct one. I agree with Senator Dolan on how critical the new agency is. That this legislation aligns with the provisions of the HEA Act is welcome. However, having sat here for many hours of debate, and given that there was considerable prelegislative scrutiny and engagement, I dispute that the HEA Act was rushed. It certainly was not. I do not want to have to spend as long on this Bill as we did on the HEA Act.