The Higher Education Authority Bill 2022, as Members will know, was published in January of this year. I genuinely want to thank all the Deputies involved for very intensively engaging on this Bill. We have had a lot of engagement and I believe we have made a lot of improvements together. The Bill completed its Final Stage in the Dáil in June with a total of 179 amendments made. We then took the legislation to the Seanad and I accepted, and we made, a further three amendments there. Today, we are back, if not to re…

There is enough argy-bargy, ruaille buaille and points of disagreement in the House from time to time, so it is nice to be here - let us keep this between ourselves - when we are all getting along well on this legislation. It has been a good example of teasing through legislation, working across party lines and trying to arrive at the best outcome. As the Deputies mentioned, there will be some points that we would all put greater emphasis on and some that we would put less emphasis on, but the broad thrust of what …

Hear, hear.

It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to speak on budget 2023 and on the immediate cost-of-living package that the Government is introducing to support families, citizens and students right across our country. I am very pleased to have worked with the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, to try to put in place a budget package that helps everybody - because the cost of living is something that everybody requires assistance with - but which also tries to target supports to those most in need. The budget we un…

Frontbenchers.

I thank the Senator for her contribution and for tabling the amendment. I very much get the point she is trying to make. To be clear, as of now, the law of the land is that, under the 1971 legislation we are currently governed by, the CEO of the HEA can solely, on his or her own, pause funding. There is currently no right of appeal. The CEO of the HEA can decide today to pause funding and there cannot be an appeals mechanism. Under the legislation we are passing, as the Senator quite rightly said, there is now an a…

I am happy to do that.

I thank Senator Ward. Academic freedom is at the heart and core of this legislation. It is protected by this legislation. On the broader point the Senator is making, this legislation will provide the HEA and an t-údarás with the ability to co-design codes of practice and guidelines. That is really important for greater transparency in the context of a raft of areas relating to third-level education, including private or third-party funding sources. The Senator's point is well made. Greater transparency in these are…

This is a large grouping of amendments, but it has a couple of themes. Senator Gavan is right. There is not a magic number. There is no magic number for many things in life, though, and we have to make judgment calls. During this process, I have tried to show a willingness to engage on the number. The Senator is right again, in that the number has changed as a result of that engagement. That is because I listened, particularly to the voices of some students' union representatives. There is someone in the Public Gal…

I thank Senator Gavan for the amendment. There is a technical reason I cannot accept it, which I will read out, and I will then comment on the substantive issue he and Senator Dolan raised. The amendment would amend the definition of "an institution of higher education" under the Housing Finance Act to which the Housing Finance Agency, for the purpose of providing accommodation for students, can lend to include both designated institutions under the Bill and other institutions in receipt of core public funding with…

I thank the Acting Chairperson and Seanad Éireann for its detailed consideration of the Bill. I sincerely thank the team of officials who have worked on the legislation. I thank Tanya Kenny, who is sitting with me, Íde Mulcahy, Stuart Morris and all the team in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. This is particularly significant legislation because apart from the substance of it, it is the first that my still relatively new Department has had passed. I thank Seanad Éire…

Ageist.

The Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, and I will be taking the debate tonight. He will be here for some of it and I will be back for the rest of it. I thank Senators for their amendments. I responded in July to some of these amendments and those responses still stand. I welcome Senator Warfield's acknowledgement that we have tried to strengthen the references to trade unions on a number of occasions throughout the Bill. I have previously given the view that being a competency-based board does not suggest tha…

I thank Senators for their amendments. There is quite a wide breadth of issues covered in this grouping. I will try to respond to each, starting with amendments Nos. 56, 57 and 58 in the names of Senator Higgins and others. These amendments relate to expanding on the names of the organisations and agencies that are listed and prescribed in the legislation. I understand what the Senator is trying to do here and in truth, I half wonder if we would have been better naming none. I take the point the Senator makes but I…

Not only is all not lost, I would make the point that the reality in Ireland today in respect of the technological universities is that there is no seat for county and city councillors. That is the truth of the matter. Senator Carrigy knows the Technological University of the Shannon, Senator Malcolm Byrne and I know the South East Technological University and Senator Dolan knows the Atlantic Technological University. This is the reality of the situation today. This new legislation will set the maximum numbers, as …

In respectfully disagreeing, I would make the point that we have quite rightly included specific references to trade unions in many places in this legislation. I would be the first to admit that the Bill is much stronger now in that regard than when it was originally published. I thank Senators and Deputies for their work in that regard. I wish to add one thing to the point I made earlier about councillors, the issue which was raised by Senators Craughwell, Carrigy and others. There are transitional arrangements in…

I thank the Senators for their contributions. I appreciate what Senator Higgins is trying to do with these amendments. I assure the House that all Ministers take data protection assessments as well as data protection seriously and are governed in our duties by the GDPR. We sought the views of the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, OPC, on this matter and consulted the Data Protection Commissioner during the development of the Bill. I am satisfied that amendment No. 77 is not necessary, as section 49 is subject to the…

I am happy to explore in detail the important broader issues when the research Bill is before the House next year. For the purposes of this legislation, though, I am satisfied, from consulting with the Data Protection Commissioner's office and seeking the legal advice of the OPC during the development of the Bill, that the amendments are not required due to the 2018 Act's provisions on data protection impact assessments.

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 properl…

We will get to that in a moment. I disagree. That context is important because that is the policy intent. On the issue of students or student unions, the definition of students set out sections 80, 90, 112 and 128 includes the student union. The interpretation of the word "students" is a student or student union. I sought legal advice on this. The reference to students means all students. This legislation means that the university or higher education institution has an obligation to engage with the student union or…