Priority Questions

Remuneration in Universities

Fergus O'Dowd

Question:

100 Deputy Fergus O’Dowd asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the date and the way in which her attention was drawn to the fact that some universities were sanctioning allowances and bonuses without her sanction; the action that she has taken on this matter; the action her predecessors took on this matter; if she will take steps to recover these moneys; if she will ensure that all future third level sector funding will be administered to the laws governing same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33902/10]

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills (Deputy Seán Haughey)

Efforts to regularise remuneration matters in the university sector have been ongoing for some years. Indeed this issue was in the public domain prior to my appointment and has been the subject of references in the reports of the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Sector and in questions previously raised in this House. More recently the issue of bonus payments in UCD came to light in the context of the Comptroller and Auditor General's Special Report on Resource Management and Performance in Irish Universities.

I welcome the opportunity to put on record my disappointment and disapproval of the unacceptable practice which existed in some universities of making additional payments to staff in the absence of the requisite sanction.

Deputy Pádraic McCormack

In the absence of the Minister.

Deputy Seán Haughey

Remuneration in universities is regulated by the Universities Act 1997. While the Act confers a considerable degree of institutional autonomy, it provides that all forms of remuneration in universities, including allowances, are required to be approved by the Minister for Education and Skills with the consent of the Minister for Finance. It is regrettably evident that some universities did not adhere to the provisions of the legislation. As soon as my Department fully became aware of the scale and extent of the problem in regard to unauthorised allowances in early 2005 it intervened to bring about a resolution.

Following prolonged and extensive contacts and correspondence between my Department, the Department of Finance, the Higher Education Authority and each of the universities concerned, agreement was finally reached in April 2009 which provided for the cessation of the unapproved allowances in the case of senior staff in universities comprehended by the review body. This regularised the remuneration of the individuals concerned apart from a limited number of outstanding issues in some universities.

Under the current legislation my Department is limited in its options in respect of the imposition of penalties to deal with breaches. While the extra payments were ceased in April 2009, in most cases this did not have retrospective effect. In view of possible contractual entitlements there are significant legal obstacles to recovering unauthorised payments from individuals. That said, my Department adopted an approach of withholding both review body and general round pay increases from their due dates pending regularisation. In addition, the question of imposing a financial penalty on particular universities involved in making unauthorised payments will be considered further with the HEA.

My Department has sought and received unequivocal commitments from each university where unapproved allowances were paid that in future it will adhere to the provisions of the Universities Act.

Deputy Fergus O’Dowd

Is it not a fact that the Department of Education and Skills and the Higher Education Authority has known about this issue going back to 1997? Is it not a fact that the Comptroller and Auditor General's special report into this matter makes that exceptionally clear? Is it not a fact also that successive Ministers for Education and Skills have refused to deal with this issue? When there is a troika of presidents in a university like Limerick drawing the presidential salary for two years at the same time, the Higher Education Authority estimates that over €4 million in taxpayers' money is being paid to top people in universities while at the bottom of the university ladder young junior lecturers cannot get in and get the hours and, most important, regarding the approximate 150,000 people in third level education, when thousands of them and their families are seeking to find €1,500 to pay the fees at the point of entry into college, will the Minister not agree that the Government should be ashamed of itself?

Deputy Seán Haughey

No. I do not believe the Government should be ashamed of itself. The universities in question should be ashamed of themselves. With autonomy comes responsibility and it is not too much to expect that highly paid senior management in our third level institutions adhere to the law without having to be constantly supervised. As I stated in my opening statement, efforts to regularise remuneration matters in the university sector have been ongoing for some time and once the scale of the problem became apparent to the Department in 2005, extensive contact took place between it, the Department of Finance, the Higher Education Authority and each of the universities concerned. The universities have a great deal of autonomy under legislation and the House has placed much trust in our universities to manage their own affairs and they have a job of work to do to regain that trust.

Deputy Fergus O’Dowd

That job of work is being done in exceptionally good measure by many of the same universities which are in the top 100 by international standards and more power to them. What is happening here is that people in these universities, who are in the public sector, are getting away with murder and the Government is letting them away with it. This goes back to 1997; the Department and the Higher Education Authority knew and year after year letters were sent from the HEA to university heads stating that payments needed the sanction of the Minister and that they were unlawful. As the HEA stated, what part of "No" did these people not understand?

Are there implications arising from the Government's lack of control over all the public service quangos throughout the country? A person in Coillte receives €450,000 a year, and the chief executive of the Dublin Airport Authority receives €750,000 when all of the bonuses are added in. The public sector is out of control and is not being held accountable while the people at the bottom in education cannot afford to pay for their books or find the €1,500 required for third-level registration. Does the Minister of State not think he and the Government ought to be ashamed of themselves for their lack of control and authority in this basic issue?

Deputy Seán Haughey

I repeat that the universities and people concerned should be ashamed of themselves. As I stated, the issue was in the public domain prior to the Tánaiste's appointment and has been the subject of references in the reports of the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Sector and in questions previously raised in the House. As I stated, as soon as the extent of the problem became clear in 2005, the issue was dealt with in a decisive way after subsequent long and protracted discussions and negotiations. I and the Government regret this as much as Deputy O'Dowd does, but I want to assure the House that the Department has sought and received unequivocal commitments from each university where unapproved allowances were paid that in future it will adhere to the provisions of the Universities Act. The House should expect that.

School Patronage

Ruairí Quinn

Question:

101 Deputy Ruairí Quinn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills when she will publish the Education (Patronage) Bill 2010 in order that the Community National School model can be given a statutory basis upon which to operate; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33511/10]

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills (Deputy Mary Alexandra White)

I am pleased to announce that the Education (Amendment) Bill 2010 was published yesterday. During the drafting process the Title of the Bill was changed to the Education (Amendment) Bill 2010 to reflect the inclusion in the Bill of other provisions which require the amendment of existing education legislation.

The Bill is designed to put in place a legislative framework which will facilitate the involvement of vocational education committees in the provision of primary education. These additional powers for VECs are proposed in the context of the development of a new additional model of patronage at primary school level — a community national school.

The Bill provides that subject to the consent of the Minister for Education and Skills, a VEC may establish and maintain a school to provide primary education and may also become patron or joint patron of an existing school. Following the enactment of the Bill, VECs will be able to apply to the Minister for the recognition of a school in the same way as other patrons. The Bill also provides that boards of management of schools under the new patronage model will operate in the same way as boards of management in primary schools generally rather than under the governance model used in post-primary VEC schools.

The Bill also provides an opportunity to deal with a number of other education-related matters for which primary legislation is required, including the amendment of the Education Act 1998 and the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004 to provide clarification on the delivery of speech therapy services to students and to reflect the de facto position where the provision of therapy services is a matter for the HSE for whom voted funds are allocated for this purpose. It provides for the amendment of the Education Act 1998 to provide for the abolition of the educational disadvantage committee. This will implement an element of the Budget 2008 decision on the rationalisation of agencies.

The Department of Education and Skills remains committed to maintaining ongoing consultation with the education partners and other stakeholders on educational disadvantage and the wider social inclusion agenda. The Department will also continue to implement DEIS, the action plan for educational inclusion, which provides for the educational needs of children and young people from disadvantaged communities.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

It provides for the amendment of the Teaching Council Act 2001 to allow for the employment, in certain exceptional and limited circumstances, of persons who are not registered teachers under that Act — to reflect the reality that it is not always possible to engage a registered teacher and providing for the Minister to regulate for such a situation.

The provisions contained in the Bill will be discussed in more detail during the passage of the legislation through the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Deputy Ruairí Quinn

I welcome the publication, however late, of this Bill. In the section of her speech she was not able to read out, perhaps the Minister of State explained why, nine years after the Teaching Council Bill was enacted, she is now amending that Act so as to enable unqualified teachers to be hired in certain circumstances against a background where there is an excess of young, and not so young, teachers properly qualified who cannot get a job.

Deputy Mary Alexandra White

The Department of Education and Skills has indicated that, in exceptional circumstances, where there is a need for teachers to be brought into schools, that need will be catered for. I think that was what Deputy Quinn was asking me to explain.

Fergus O'Dowd

Question:

102 Deputy Fergus O’Dowd asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the nature of the audit findings into FÁS funding to date; when the latest audit by the European Commission into the use of funds by FÁS will be finalised; the public funds that have been returned to the European Commission to date; when it will be known whether any further public funds will need to be refunded; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33903/10]

Deputy Seán Haughey

In Ireland, selected FÁS activities are co-financed by the European Social Fund and the Exchequer under the 2007-2013 Human Capital Investment Operational Programme, which has a 41% average ESF aid rate. This operational programme has an overall allocation of €375 million in European Social Fund moneys with expenditure from 1 January 2007 until 31 December 2015 being eligible for ESF assistance. The final payment application for this programme is due to the European Commission by 31 March 2017.

FÁS has been allocated €211 million in European Social Fund moneys under this operational programme. This allocation has been committed to FÁS programmes that deliver skills training for the unemployed and job seekers and to in-company training to the amounts of €201 million and €10 million, respectively.

FÁS submitted its first claim under this operational programme in October 2008 for a €23 million European Social Fund, ESF, drawdown in respect of training for the unemployed and job seekers programmes. In 2009, the European Commission undertook an audit of this claim and raised issues about it. As a result, in 2009 it was decided to postpone claiming European Social Funds from FÁS expenditure until these audit issues were satisfactorily addressed and the necessary recommendations implemented. To date, Ireland has met the deadlines for the full drawdown of available ESF moneys. It is intended that alternative FÁS spending on skills training for the unemployed will be substituted for the amount of €165,000 in the next claim and, therefore, there will be no loss to the Exchequer over the programme period.

After FÁS addressed the issues raised, the position was presented to the Commission for its opinion. The Commission then completed a follow-up audit in March 2010 on these re-presented costs. The Commission released its draft audit report on 16 June to which my Department responded on 24 August. After review, analysis and further consultation, the Commission will issue a final position in connection with the audit. Therefore, it is hoped that this process will allow for the submission of a FÁS claim and the related European Social Fund moneys to be drawn down in the near future.

Deputy Fergus O’Dowd

The question was to ask the Minister of State about the nature of the audit findings. What were the findings of the FÁS audit in December?

Deputy Seán Haughey

The issues of concern to the Commission related to the methodology used in respect of numbers and costs, to tendering and procurement and to the extension of contracts. These were the main issues raised by the Commission and, as I noted, processes are being put in place to deal with such matters. I hope this answers the Deputy's questions.

Deputy Fergus O’Dowd

Did the audit not find that no proper paper trail existed? At a meeting in December 2009, was it not agreed that the omission of a proper paper trail following the first audit meant that it would be necessary to examine all funds going back to 2000? Is it not the case that there is no paper trail and that while estimates were given, the Department must now revert and get a paper trail that did not exist and was not available to FÁS at that time?

In the vast majority of cases, it was to do with methodologies used in regard to marking and not malpractice.

Departmental Programmes

Ruairí Quinn

Question:

103 Deputy Ruairí Quinn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the number of successful applicants that have accepted a place on courses offered through the Labour Market Activation Fund to date in 2010; the number of courses that have not proceeded due to insufficient interest from the public; the number of places not proceeding due to insufficient interest from the public; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33512/10]

Deputy Seán Haughey

The Labour Market Activation Fund, which I launched in March of this year, is designed to assist in the creation of innovative training and education provision by private, not-for-profit and public sector providers. It is targeted at specific priority groups among the unemployed, namely, the low skilled, and those formerly employed in declining sectors, such as the construction, retail and manufacturing sectors, with particular emphasis on the under 35s and the long-term unemployed. Following an open tender competition in which 370 tenders were received, offers of funding were initially made to 26 organisations across the private, not-for-profit and public sectors to support specific training and education programmes for the priority groups.

On 5 August, the Minister for Education and Skills announced the allocation of an additional €12 million to the fund, raising it to €32 million in all. This has enabled my Department to offer funding to 33 additional projects from a range of private and public training and education providers. This will bring to almost 60 the number of projects throughout the country being supported by the Labour Market Activation Fund.

The commitment of additional moneys to the fund recognises the quality and diversity of the programmes tendered, and the overall level of demand evident for these programmes, and will bring to 12,000 the total number of places available to the unemployed supported by the fund. Without exception, all of the projects approved for support indicated their acceptance of the funding offered. In particular, all of the 33 projects benefiting from the extra €12 million funding that I made available last month have been actively involved in promoting their programmes and recruiting participants for training and education programmes scheduled to come on stream over the coming weeks and months. Overall indications of interest and applications from would-be programme participants to date confirm the popularity of courses on offer. While there has been some variability in the pace of applications across programmes, no programme has not proceeded due to insufficient interest from the public to date. Several programmes have yet, however, to complete their recruitment processes.

Deputy Ruairí Quinn

I welcome the Minister of State's comments and the publication of this programme. It is very necessary. I draw his attention to a fact in which his colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy White, will be interested. The normal number of participants to make a course viable in Carlow IT is 60. However, in regard to one of three courses, namely manufacturing, the threshold of requirement was 20. An applicant was told there is not a sufficient number of people interested in this area. The Minister of State, Deputy White, will confirm that there is, sadly, a significant amount of unemployment in Carlow. The person in question, who has written to me about this, said there is little or no publication, either in the labour exchanges or other areas of public advertising, to draw attention to this. There were three courses in question, all run by the lifelong learning department at Carlow Institute of Technology. In the case of the course that did not proceed — the certificate in good management practice at level six — the Minister of State may well have been told by the college authorities that they are still trying to recruit people for it. As of now, however, this course has not proceeded.

Deputy Seán Haughey

This initiative was announced in last December's budget and further moneys became available during the course of the year. Given the serious unemployment situation, providers throughout the State were called upon to rally to the cause and to come up with proposals at short notice. Private providers are providing 21 projects, the VECs are providing 13, the third level sector is providing 19, and the community and voluntary sector is providing six. Should it emerge in the coming weeks that certain programmes or courses are undersubscribed or are experiencing difficulties, my Department will work closely with the providers concerned to ensure they are afforded the greatest possible latitude in order to maximise participation rates and ensure participants who have already signed up can be facilitated.

I welcome the information the Deputy has given. This is a learning process for us in many respects and the programme will be thoroughly reviewed in the context of ensuring further provision. However, if there are cases such as the Deputy referred to in Carlow and elsewhere, my Department will liaise with the providers in question to see what can be done.

Deputy Ruairí Quinn

I appreciate the generosity of the Minister of State's reply. I will furnish him with the precise details. I understand this is the first time his Department has had substantial experience of dealing directly with the institute of technology sector and that there may have been a breakdown in communication. If the particular applicant to whom I referred cannot be accommodated in the course for which she is qualified, perhaps she may be able, if there is some flexibility, to participate in one of the other two courses based at Carlow Institute of Technology.

Deputy Seán Haughey

We will certainly look into the case. The programme should allow for that type of flexibility.

State Examinations

Deirdre Clune

Question:

104 Deputy Deirdre Clune asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the steps she has taken to introduce a system for the awarding of CAO bonus points for Leaving Certificate maths by 2012; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33904/10]

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills (Deputy Conor Lenihan)

The report of the innovation task force recommended that bonus points for higher level mathematics in the leaving certificate should be announced now, for implementation from 2012 onwards, so that students beginning their leaving certificate can make informed decisions about subject and level choice. I indicated my own view at the time of the desirability of sending a clear signal to second level students about the introduction of CAO bonus points for achievement in leaving certificate mathematics at higher level.

Legally, the criteria for admission to higher education institutions are matters for decision by the institutions themselves. The academic councils of these institutions determine the admission arrangements for students. I wrote to the president of the Irish Universities Association, the chairman of Institutes of Technology Ireland and the president of the Dublin Institute of Technology asking them to give early and favourable consideration to the matter, in the context of a suitably devised bonus points system that will successfully encourage more students to study higher level mathematics. The council of registrars of the institutes of technology has since indicated it is in favour of bonus points for mathematics provided they are implemented across the system. Many but not all of the universities have also indicated their support for this. The Irish Universities Association is working to promote a co-ordinated approach to the issue across the sector, and will keep me informed of developments.

In the meantime, I indicated in my press statement of 18 August that students who are entering senior cycle in September should be aware of the possibility of additional benefits of taking mathematics at higher level in terms of CAO applications from 2012 onward and should take this possibility into account in making their leaving certificate subject choices.

Deputy Deirdre Clune

With respect, the Minister of State's response merely underlines the fudge on this issue. As he said, the innovation task force recommended the introduction of bonus points for mathematics as essential to the development of the smart economy. The National Competitiveness Council has consistently recommended their introduction, and the same recommendation was included in a report last week by Forfás. Yet the Minister of State, who has responsibility for innovation, is obliged to request academic councils to give the proposal favourable attention. That approach will not deliver what is required. Students who will sit their leaving certificate examination in two years require certainty in terms of their decision to undertake, or not to undertake, the higher level mathematics course. They need certainty, not more waffle, in terms of whether this is going to happen. Dublin City University, DCU, and University College Dublin, UCD, have signed up to it and the institutes of technology will do likewise if it is introduced across the board.

Is the Government serious about this proposal and will it signal to the third level institutions that this is an important issue?

Deputy Conor Lenihan

Deputy Conor Lenihan

An integral aspect of our university system is the concept of academic freedom in terms of how they operate. I am actively engaged in the marketplace, trading, pushing and cajoling. I met recently with Mr. Jimmy Browne of NUI Galway when I again bearded him on this subject.

Dáil Éireann debate - Wednesday, 29 Sep 2010