I think it desirable at this stage that we should take stock and know what we are doing. There have been all kinds of criticism of one kind or another over the introduction of this Bill. I appreciate the approach of the Minister in regard to the difficulties in which the University was placed. We here are interested in what the University provides for the nation but, just as we are interested in clocks and use them daily, none of us would want to have the responsibility of taking a clock to pieces and seeing exactly how it works. While Parliament has a big interest in University education, it has shown that in the discussion which we had on the position with regard to its finances, the Oireachtas is not the place in which to examine the exact details of how a University is put together, works and functions in detail. In the passing of this measure, I think we are proceeding in an absolutely proper and Parliamentary way.
Certain exceptions have been taken to the fact that a Statute is being passed apparently to do something for the University College, Dublin and it has been suggested that that is a little bit undesirable. I think it is well to look at some of the points which have been made regarding the position of University College, Dublin and I should like to refer to an article by Dr. Alfred O'Rahilly in the issue of Hibernia of the 6th May which deals with the alternatives which they might take. He says—
U.C.D. has several alternatives. It could legally appeal against the decision. It could pass a new Statute providing that selected Assistants (specifically called such) might have the additional title of Surgical Tutor or College Lecturer. Or finally the College could ask for a short amendment of the Charter. British University Charters may be amended at the request of a specified majority of the Body. Belfast has a similar provision; so has T.C.D. since 1911. By anyone acquainted with the working of modern university institutions this latest decision, if allowed to stand, would be regarded as an undesirable legalistic technicality.
We all appreciate how undesirable it would be that Parliament or the Government would intervene in a way that would appear to interfere with the recognised freedom of University institutions in carrying out their functions. The Minister has given clear indication that there is no desire either through this Bill or in approaching the matter in future to interfere with the normal recognised freedom of the University.
The Report of the Board of Visitors brings out clearly that with the approval of the Senate, whose power in relation to University Colleges is not fully understood, and with the complete approval over a long period of the Governing Body of University College, Dublin, certain steps have been taken to provide for the effective and efficient carrying on of the institution in Dublin. I think it is well to emphasise one or two of the points. The present difficulty arises out of the fact that the Charter prescribes certain methods of appointing Lecturers by the Senate of the University. In their inquiries the Board of Visitors reported that they accepted that that prescribed system was costly, undignified and undesirable, that the prescribed system would have made it difficult and unwieldy to have Lecturers appointed by the University in the numbers which the College considered necessary in the past ten years.
The Board also considered that that system might also have the effect of deterring a suitable person from becoming an applicant. The Charter contains this clause:
... shall be taken and construed and adjudged in all Our Courts or elsewhere in the most favourable and beneficial sense and for the best advantage of the said University, and for the promotion of the objects of the said recited Charter, and of this Our Charter, any misrecital, non-recital, omission, defect, imperfection, matter or thing notwithstanding.
In the circumstances accepted by the Board with regard to the existing system as prescribed in the Charter, with the powers and responsibility implied in that, with the agreement, tolerance, or anything else you like to call it, of the Senate of the University, and with the full concurrence of the Governing Body of the University, the Governing Body have made appointments which according to the Report of the Board of Visitors have assisted in giving flexibility in the running of the Faculties and it is not suggested that the standard of the teaching staff of the College has suffered.
In University College, Dublin, an institution whose activities have been increasing with enormous rapidity over the past few years, tremendous work is being done to make the College an institution that attracts increasing numbers of students from every part of the country. In these circumstances, the Oireachtas can be satisfied that it is doing a practical and a businesslike piece of work and we can appreciate the Minister's approach to the matter when he says the Oireachtas will line up with the Senate and the Governing Body in giving consent to what is being done——
