I am not sure. I thought the Minister was in possession.

Amendment No. 52 relates to the requirement that a person would be recommended by the Public Appointments Service. I wish to ensure transparency and no danger of potential excessive political involvement in the process. The Minister clarified that he plans to address that issue through other mechanisms. One issue not addressed and of real concern relates to trade union representation for both academic and professional staff on the board of an t-údarás. That is very important if the board is to represent in a compre…

I second the amendment.

I move amendment No. 54: In page 20, between lines 35 and 36, to insert the following: “(c) Not less than two of the persons appointed under paragraph (a) shall be a trade union representative, one representing professional staff and the other academic staff.”.

I move amendment No. 56: In page 22, between lines 25 and 26, to insert the following: “(iii) the Irish Research Council,”.

There are a number of amendments to be covered here. Amendment Nos. 56 to 58, inclusive, seek to ensure that the list of bodies with which an t-údarás may co-operate under section 17 would include the Irish Research Council, the Royal Irish Academy and the Health Research Board. As we have discussed, it is important not to end up with a siloed approach. Science Foundation Ireland was mentioned explicitly, but other bodies have not been. There is a very wide remit of research. I have highlighted in particular the le…

We are going to come to the significant area of student representation. The fact is that regulations are not the same as rights. I think there is a question here. We are left hoping that governing authorities will recognise the value of local authority input. Some will and others will not. We are left hoping that the Minister of the day, whoever he or she might be, will be sufficiently minded to ensure that representation. Those are not the same as having it directed by legislation. It does not carry the same weigh…

I will move the amendments relating to local authorities and trade unions in due course but I will not move the amendments in respect of research bodies.

I move amendment No. 59: In page 22, line 29, after “education” where it firstly occurs to insert “or the conduct of research”.

I will speak to this amendment. It is unfortunate that the Minister has left the Chamber at this moment. I will later be pressing the amendments relating to trade unions and local authorities. I have withdrawn or not moved amendments Nos. 56, 57 and 58 in recognition of the Minister's point to the effect that naming individual research bodies might become onerous. Amendment No. 59 addresses what the Minister said about not wanting to name all the individual bodies. It is a blanket provision. He mentioned that he ha…

The key point is where this is sitting alongside. This is not in a listing of higher education institutions. This is a listing of bodies with which the higher education system may be co-operating. That is the section that I am looking to amend. For example, the Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland are being named. I was concerned that they were named while other bodies were not. With respect, the examples that I gave, of Teagasc or the Health Research Board, are n…

I move amendment No. 60: In page 26, between lines 24 and 25, to insert the following: “(3) 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.”.

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." T…

I will come back to that in my response.

Section 38(2) contains the phrase "as may be determined, with the approval of the Board". However, my amendment is to section 38(1). Section 38(2) contains the term "may include", but it is not exclusionary. There is provision under section 38(1), which I propose to amend, for the chief executive to specify other conditions in writing. That is the concern. I know of the role of the Accounting Officer. I will not dwell on it excessively now because it becomes even clearer in other sections of the Bill where we have …

I move amendment No. 62: In page 32, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: “(b) the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,”

Amendments Nos. 62 to 64, inclusive, contain matters to which the Minister should have regard when developing a strategy for tertiary education. Amendment No. 62 specifies that the Minister will have regard to the United Nations sustainable development goals. It is particularly important to reinforce that in view of the fact that, unfortunately, the definition of "sustainable development" in the Bill is not consistent with the United Nations sustainable development goals and predates the Rio Convention. It is a def…

We have a number of amendments to get through. The Minister of State will be aware that my amendments are adding things, but they are not removing anything. They are adding things that are perhaps not being given sufficient emphasis. There are areas in which we are conscious that there has been a history of neglect and there is therefore a requirement that we ensure that our future tertiary plans will not be neglected. I note that the Minister of State has not addressed amendment No. 69-----

Is the Acting Chair sure?

Sorry, we have spoken to that. In terms of amendments Nos. 62 to 67, inclusive, the issues that we are talking about are around equality and the sustainable development goals. I will not rehash this, but the definition of environmental development and sustainability as it stands in this Bill has no relation to the sustainable development goals. It is a definition from the 1980s and it is previous to even the first conference on climate change, which was at Rio. It is dated, it gives no historical responsibilities a…