Deputy John Bruton gave me notice of his intention to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter of the importance of filling vacancies in the Higher Education Authority. Deputy Bruton has some ten minutes to present his case and the Minister has five minutes to reply.
Adjournment Debate. - Higher Education Authority Membership.
Sir, the Higher Education Authority have a very important function to perform. They advise the Government on the priorities for expenditure in higher education as we well know. The Government had the opportunity under the EC Structural Fund to increase the level of investment in higher education and it is important that this should be done in a properly planned way and with the best possible advice available.
The Higher Education Authority consist of 18 members plus a chairman. A quorum within the Authority for a meeting to take place legally is six. At present there are only seven valid members of the Higher Education Authority out of a total possible membership of 19. The bulk of the vacant places became vacant in May 1987. The Minister has failed to fill those vacancies. Four further vacancies fell due on 1 November. Needless to say, the Minister, not having made up her mind for two and a half years to fill the other vacancies, has not filled these either. We now have a situation in which there are only seven members valid to attend the body for which the quorum is six. I understand that one of the seven members has not been a regular attender. It is probably correct to say that the person in question has not attended most of the meetings recently so the reliable membership is a bare quorum of six. If any one of those members is ill or cannot attend and if the other regular non attender continues regularly not to attend meetings, the Higher Education Authority, duly called, cannot legally transact business. This arises because the Minister for Education has apparently been unable to make up her mind as to who she wants to fill Government nominated places on the Higher Education Authority. This has created a situation which holds the Higher Education Authority up to ridicule. It indicates that the Minister does not take the functions of the Authority seriously. The Minister, as I said already, is unable to make up her mind about a relatively simple matter such as the filling of vacancies of this kind. This has caused considerable concern among the staff of the Authority who fear that the Minister's procrastination in regard to filling vacancies indicates that, in fact, the Authority do not have a secure future and that the Minister is allowing them to wilt and wither away. These fears may be entirely groundless but they are fears that are perfectly natural in view of the fact that the Minister has left places vacant for so long.
I have initiated this debate in the hope that as a result of the publicity which I believe this instance of Government indecision deserves, the Minister will, at last, do her job and fill these vacancies and allow the Authority to continue their work without having a shadow over them as a result of the Minister's indecision.
The Minister for Education indicated in replies in this House to questions from Deputy Bruton on November 14 that the Higher Education Authority Act of 1971 assigns wide ranging functions to the Authority in relation to the development and expansion of higher education; the Minister also stated that, in making appointments to the Authority, the Government will have due regard to the interests of all sectors of higher education and to the desirable balance between academic and non-academic members within the requirements of the Act.
The Higher Education Authority were set up on an ad hoc basis in 1968, and given statutory powers in the Higher Education Authority Act of 1971. The principal functions of the Authority are: to further the development of higher education; to maintain a continuous review of the demand and need for higher education; to assist in the co-ordination of state investment in higher education and to prepare proposals for such investment; to review proposals from universities and designated institutions for capital and recurrent funding; to allocate among these institutions the grants voted by the Oireachtas; to promote an appreciation of the value of higher education and research; to promote the attainment of equality of opportunity in higher education and the democratisation of its structures and, finally; to recommend to the Minister the overall provision of student places to be made within the higher education system having regard to the need to maintain a reasonable balance in the distribution of the total number of students between the institutions of higher education.
The Authority's range of operation covers the universities and those institutions designated by the Minister for Education under the terms of the 1971 Act. Their advisory powers relate to the whole of the third-level sector. In addition, the Authority have a funding role in relation to the universities and some designated institutions.
The Schedule to the Higher Education Authority Act 1971 prescribes that the members of the Authority shall be a chairman and not more than 18 ordinary members of whom at least seven shall be academic members and seven shall be other than academic members.
At present there are seven serving members of the Authority one of whom has been appointed by the Authority as deputy chairman. This situation has come about due to the recent retirement of the chairman on reaching the statutory age limit and the resignation or expiry of the term of office of a number of ordinary members. I would wish to stress that the Authority are empowered to act nothwithstanding one or more than one vacancy in their membership and also in the event of the office of chairman being vacant. Therefore the work of the Authority has been able to continue as normal while consideration is being given to the question of the filling of vacancies. This matter is in progress and the Minister expects to be in a position at an early date to announce the appointments to the Authority.
I should like to apologise for the absence of the Minister who is out of the country. As Deputy Bruton pointed out, four members of the Authority retired on 1 November and, consequently, that is not an unreasonable time lag.
The other seven members retired in May 1987.
Four retired recently and the time lag since then has not been unreasonable.
It is a disgrace.
I assure the House that the Minister will be making a very early decision in regard to appointments to this Authority. The emotion displayed by Deputy Bruton is unnecessary in view of the continuing good work, of which I am sure the Deputy is aware, of the Higher Education Authority——
This is the worst response I have ever had to a question on the Adjournment. It is pathetic.