Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 July 2017
3. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will discuss the new delegation of ministerial responsibility within his Department to the Ministers of State; and the way in which it is proposed that this will work. [31911/17]
View answerThis question relates to the role of the Ministers of State within the Department, particularly in light of the appointment of the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor, whom I wish well in her job. There are a lot of questions about what everyone does in the Department. There have not been any delegation orders made. There is confusion about what exactly the Minister of State, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, will be doing. I also want to raise briefly the question of the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, having responsibility for school buses which, in my view, jars with the rest of his responsibilities. Someone, maybe from the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, should be put into the Department of Education and Skills as well to deal with that issue.
First, the Taoiseach makes the decisions about the allocation, not I.
I am pleased to have the support of two excellent Ministers of State in the Department. As the Deputy will be aware, the allocation of responsibilities is: the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor, will be handling higher education; and the Minister of State, Deputy John Halligan, will continue to handle training, skills, innovation, research and development and, as the Deputy states, school transport.
The relevant delegation orders are in the course of being prepared but the areas of allocation are clear. Under higher education, there is student support, the Technological Universities Bill 2015, the action plan for access to higher education, internationalisation of higher education and quality in higher education. I refer to the whole higher education remit. The Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, has the area of skills, further education and training, adult education, the research area, school transport, ICT skills etc. As always is the case, I retain an overseeing policy direction role. I am keen to ensure that as we develop new opportunities for young people, we see these two sectors grow in harness and together.
This as an appropriate decision by the Taoiseach because we see the need for growing investment in higher education. The Deputy has often pointed out that there is need for additional investment. At the same time, we need to see the balanced expansion of apprenticeships, traineeships and opportunities that, in my view and in the view of the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, have been neglected over the years, and we are trying to ensure that those evolve. These appointments are appropriate to that challenge.
I welcome the answer. If the announcement is that the Minister of State, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, will have delegated responsibility for the area that she has been given, I am delighted with that. If higher education has that completely separate voice at Cabinet, that is important. I think Deputy Mitchell O'Connor was treated pretty badly and if this is the job that is envisaged, that is a different story altogether. It is an important role, but one that we would expect a Minister sitting at the Cabinet to have full delegated responsibilities for, and that she would be the one answering questions on third level. As a senior academic said to me yesterday, and Dr. Kissinger said of Europe, "Who do we talk to?"
Mary Mitchell O'Connor.
I am delighted to hear it. I welcome this appointment. That has not been clear.
I believe delegation orders were before the Cabinet this week in respect of other Departments. They have not cropped up in this case. I believe the way the Cabinet reshuffle was dealt with has created uncertainty. While the issue of the salary is not a matter for the Minister, I believe it is discriminatory that the senior person - who happens to be a woman - is not getting the allowance and that the allowance is being given to two men who are actually junior to her in the Cabinet order of precedence.
I am pleased Deputy Byrne is supportive of the new team and the work we will be doing in this Department. I believe the two briefs are important. I have a strong belief that we have neglected apprenticeships and traineeships and the associated skills. We are seeing new opportunities regionally and nationally to strengthen the skills offering. That is why we have regional skills councils. Equally, higher education is going to be central to regional development and to innovation as part of the agenda. Deputy Byrne will be pleased to see that we will be working as an effective team to try to respond to the challenges, which are considerable in this brief.
I welcome what has been said today. I hope this brings an end to it. We will be keenly looking out for the delegation orders as, I imagine, will the Minister of State, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, and she will be right to do so. Certainly, we support that.
I appeal to the Minister to consider the position of the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan. He has an important role in research in the other Department but I am referring to skills and training. I am concerned at the idea that he has to deal with school transport as well. That is going to take up a good deal of his time over the summer, in particular. In fairness, the Minister of State deals with representations and he cannot change the rules unless he gets a budget or whatever. He will spend a great deal of time dealing with that. Is there someone else who could do that? It is an important job. It is a live issue in rural Ireland and, finally, it has become live in the Fine Gael Party too, or so we read in the media. Someone else who could put a little more time into that should be appointed to allow the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, to focus on his important responsibilities.
The allocation of areas of responsibility in the different Departments is a prerogative of the Taoiseach. We, as a team, manage the responsibilities that we have, and these include school transport. We are providing in our delegation orders for the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, to continue to deal with that area. It is an important area with an allocation of €175 million. I believe the Minister of State has proven rather adept in dealing with this issue, which is a tricky one.
