Higher Education Authority Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2022-07-06
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Gerard P. Craughwell (IND), Labour Panel

The Minister is dead right. If I saw something going wrong, I would hold the Department in question to account. I have been trying to do that for the past two years with another Department and getting nowhere. In fact, the worst thing that ever happened to this country was the Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924, where the Minister takes the fall but somebody else does the deed. That is the way I feel about it.
With respect to the Minister’s comment on us representing pressure groups or groups with specific interests, I have not been contacted by either IFUT or the TUI. It is in my DNA to question that. I have had two amendments provided to me by the Irish Universities Association, which thought it had a deal with the Minister on those two amendments, one of which relates to the CEO’s powers. The other amendments and contacts I have had have been from citizens, some of whom are sitting in the Gallery.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2022-07-06/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:02+00:00
Sitting date: 2022-07-06