asked the Minister for Education when he proposes to establish the Board of the National College of Art and Design.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - National College of Art.
37.
I propose to establish the board shortly.
Could I press the Minister for a definition of "shortly"? Is it a matter of a couple of weeks?
The problem is that the students have not taken steps yet to elect their representatives; otherwise I could have the board established very quickly.
Would the Minister announce the names of those he has nominated and then get on with the election?
I do not see why I should do it in that manner. I have not nominated anybody yet. I am prepared to write to individuals and ask them if they are willing to accept nomination, but I felt that this should be done in a unified way, that the students should elect their representatives now or they should, in fact, have been elected before now.
Is there any difficulty about that election? Is there anything holding it up?
I do not know. The students have not made any attempt to come together to elect the representatives, and I may have to take some steps to get them together to elect their representatives. The Deputy is aware I could proceed with the composition of the board without the student representatives, but I would very much prefer not to do that.
Have the students and staff been asked to hold elections?
Yes, they have, and the staff have already elected their two representatives.
And how have the students been notified of this and been asked to hold elections?
Through the officials of my Department.
Did they approach the student representative body?
I do not know of any student representative body.
Then did they approach each individual student?
I know of a self-constituted body who claimed to be the representative body.
Did the Minister's officials approach each individual student?
In any case, even if my officials never approached the students, the students are aware that two members elected by them can be appointed to the board. One would feel that if they were sufficiently interested in taking their places on the board that it would not be necessary for anyone to approach them.
And one would feel that if the Minister were interested in getting the board constituted he would set up election machinery and get on with it. Has the Minister——
This is a cross-examination.
It would need to be.
38.
asked the Minister for Education whether he will arrange for the National College of Art to be open for day students until 9 p.m.
It is not proposed to have the college open for day students until 9 p.m.
Could the Minister indicate the reason for that, because it is a source of great difficulty for the students that they are debarred from working there during this period?
The Deputy is aware that there are also approximately 350 night students attending this college for whom facilities must be made available, and that an influx of day students at night could seriously interfere with the work of these students who are also entitled to their rights.
Is it not the case that day students were always entitled to this facility until the Minister stopped them attending their institution of education?
I am pointing out that the night students are equally entitled to rights and that if the day students were allowed to remain on there until 9 o'clock it would interfere with the rights of the night students.
Would the Minister not accept that until recently the day students did remain on there and would he say why he has decided to ban them during this period?
I have already explained it, and the Deputy is very well aware of many things that were done in that college over a period——
Indeed, many things.
——which, perhaps, could not be regarded as proper.
39.
asked the Minister for Education whether he will ensure that all existing facilities and equipment in the National College of Art are available each day to the students.
All existing facilities in the college are available to the students under the supervision of the staff.
40.
asked the Minister for Education whether he will arrange for the services of a librarian to be available in the National College of Art.
I do not propose to appoint a librarian to the college. The amount of work involved would not justify the employment of even a part-time librarian. Arrangements are being made to have the registrar take on the duty of attending to the library work at certain times during the day.
41.
asked the Minister for Education whether any additional teachers have been appointed to the National College of Art since its reopening before Christmas: and, if so, the terms of their appointment.
One additional part-time teacher has been appointed since the reopening of the college before Christmas. This teacher has been appointed to teach night classes for eight hours per week at a fee of £2.20 per hour.
42.
asked the Minister for Education if the staff representatives for the governing body of the new College of Art have been chosen.
The staff have elected two representatives for appointment to the board of the college.
Could I ask the Minister if it is legal for the staff so to do in view of the fact that it is not at all certain that the persons who are at present members of the staff will be members of the staff of the new school of art and, that being so, that there may be cases of persons voting for representatives who will not be on the staff of the newly-constituted school of art at all?
All the teachers who are on the staff were entitled to vote.
Is the Minister satisfied that all of those who voted will be members of the staff in the new College of Art?
The Deputy is well aware of the position. We went into this in great detail during the course of the Bill in relation to the College of Art.
I am querying the validity of this election.
The election was quite valid, and I am informed by the Institute of Professional Civil Servants that a ballot was held in accordance with procedures agreed upon and that two teachers were elected.
43.
asked the Minister for Education if he is aware of the staff-student conflict which has taken place in the National College of Art in the recent past; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I am not aware that as far as the staff of the college are concerned there has been any conflict of the nature implied in the Deputy's question.
My information is that certain students sought to disrupt the work of the painting school and that following this an incident took place which is being investigated.
The Minister will see that I formulated this question in a general way in order to avoid raising any passions that would be better left quiescent. The Minister must be aware that such a conflict has taken place, and when he says he is not so aware in the opening part of his reply, surely he is putting on to the record of this House something which he knows to be untrue?
No, I am not putting on the record of this House something which I know to be untrue. I have clearly pointed out what I know to be true, that so far as the staff are concerned there has not been any conflict, but that in relation to a certain group of students very considerable efforts have been made to provoke conflict.
The Minister seems determined——
There is a large number of questions and very little progress has been made.
You are aware, Sir, that I ask very few questions and I do not do so lightly. I am not a persistent pursuer of questions with supplementaries, and I would ask your indulgence to ask one more supplementary question. In view of the statement of the Minister that he is not aware of any disturbance on the part of the staff, is he not aware that a physical assault by a member of the staff on one of the students took place which resulted in visible physical injury to that student?
I am not going to comment on any individual case——
Why did the Minister say he did not know about it?
——but I would like to underline the fact that Deputy Keating, earlier on in the course of his supplementary, stressed that he had not put down this question for the purpose of raising an individual incident.
If the Minister had dealt with the matter decently and openly I would not have, but since he denies all knowledge of it, it has to be brought out.
I have very considerable doubts about that now.
The Government would not make individual representations about Long Kesh. I put down a question and it was ruled out of order by the Ceann Comhairle. I did not get a letter from him about it either.
Order.