——and described the then Government as having "a closedown syndrome" and even mentioned hospitals specifically. He also said that recession is not the time to skimp on education and teacher training. He demanded satisfactory prospects for the professional staff at Carysfort College and demanded teachers should continue to be trained at Carysfort College. Most importantly, he went on to spell out in great detail the Fianna Fáil alternative as he called it. He went on to say it had been spelt out in clear unambiguous terms that they wanted Carysfort College to continue as a teacher training centre with other items added such as in-service teacher training courses, new curriculum development courses, third level education courses in the humanities, education in psychological training for teachers, computer training and a whole lot of other things.
On that evening in March Fine Gael listened as they had to listen for four years to the total refusal of Fianna Fáil to face realities and their allied tendency to make whatever wild promises that suited the particular occasion but Fine Gael, unlike Fianna Fáil, did not play political games. We went ahead and appointed a working group under the Chairman of the Higher Education Authority, the very respected Mr. Liam Lane, to produce good workable proposals for the future of the college which of course is recognised as a magnificant facility.
That group did bring forward proposals which were presented to the Sisters of Mercy and made public on 2 March 1987. I will mention what some of those proposals were. They included that UCD would move their H.Dip. in Education Faculty to Carysfort College making use of all the teacher training facilities there; that the excellent Carysfort College language teaching facilities should become a language centre integrated with the UCD Arts Degree language teaching programme; that history, geography, arts, commerce and social science courses could be incorporated into Carysfort College and that the Irish Folklore Commission would be transferred there from Earlsfort Terrace. It was suggested that the research work of the Curriculum and Examinations Board, since defunct, should be transferred to Carysfort College. The report also stated that none of the Carysfort College staff should be forced into redundancy.
That report was given to the Sisters of Mercy and it was left for the incoming Minister. Fine Gael made it clear before leaving office in a statement from the then Minister, Deputy Cooney, that the proposals were acceptable to him but because we were going out of Government he could not give undertakings about the future. Since then there has been total inactivity and silence on the part of the present Minister despite all of the questions she has been asked and all the letters which have been written to her. In March 1986 the matter was considered to be a very grave national issue and of immense urgency. The present Minister has for one year refused to answer questions on the progress of the plans and she has left the staff in a state of limbo, not to mention the anxieties of the Sisters of Mercy and the wider population around the college who are so anxious about the future.
In the debate on that Private Members' motion in March 1986 Fianna Fáil called for immediate acion to ensure that this great and valuable institution be retained as an integral part of our higher education system. Two years ago they called for immediate action, they have been in office now for one year and yet we have had nothing but inaction. The reason I raise this issue tonight in the Dáil, the reason I asked for it to be taken on the Adjournment, is because it now transpires that considerable alarm was created among the staff and right across the education world by rumours emanating from a college board meeting just after Christmas that vacant possession of their offices would be required as soon as this academic year ends in June. If the Minister denies that that was ever mentioned I will be very pleased but following the rumour which emanated from that meeting the Irish Federation of University Teachers were alarmed enough to call for an emergency meeting with the Minister which was held on 4 February. Again at that meeting mention was made of the need to vacate the premises in June, that the staff might not have any offices to work in after June.
At that meeting the staff were told that even if they had to physically leave the premises and had no jobs to go to they would still be paid in full. I have in my possession a letter which was sent to the IFUT by the Minister on 17 February confirming this arrangement. One can imagine the effect that that sort of emergency meeting and that sort of information has had across the education world which was promised the earth and the stars by Fianna Fáil as long as two years ago——
