I should like to ask the elusive Leader of the House what arrangements have been made or are being made about the debate on university education. We are anxious to have it next week if possible.
Business of Seanad.
The position is that the matters dealt with in the motion on the Order Paper in connection with higher education are under active examination by the Government. At the moment the Minister is unable to make any definite contribution to a debate on this. I take it Senators would like to have the Minister make some concrete statements on the matter.
There is complete misunderstanding. We are forgetting what was arranged. Originally, when it was decided to debate this, it was decided to defer it. The Minister expressed a preference to have a discussion on the university motion. It was agreed to take out the motion now on the Order Paper until Part II of the Commission's Report was out. It was agreed also that it would be useful to have a discussion on that matter before the Government made decisions and that we would be happy to have the Minister in the House. Even though he would not be in a position to announce decisions we would like him to listen to our views on the subject. This matter was agreed to at that time.
In seeking a debate at this stage it was not our intention to press the Minister for decisions on some of those matters at this point. Our fear is that if we do not have the debate now the decisions will be made before we have the debate here. The discussion would be useful. In case there has been some misunderstanding about the original concept of the debate, I would ask the Leader of the House to consult the Minister further in the matter. If the Minister understands that we do not expect him to make policy statements at this stage he may be prepared to come here for the debate.
I will convey your views to the Minister.
The Seanad adjourned at 1.25 p.m. until 3 p.m. on Wednesday, 6th December, 1967.