Rose Conway-Walsh warns Mayo campus may lack governing representation
Rose Conway-Walsh warned the bill could leave the Mayo campus without staff representation on its governing body and said Letterkenny and Sligo could face the same risk. She argued removing staff reps would weaken accountability and highlighted chronic underfunding in higher education since 2008.
Representation at risk
Rose Conway-Walsh questioned whether the Mayo campus would have representation on the governing body under the provisions set out in the bill and asked if Letterkenny or Sligo would be similarly affected. She described the prospect as absolutely horrific and said backtracking on previously accepted arrangements would ring alarm bells.
Governance and local knowledge
She stressed staff representatives bring on-the-ground knowledge to governing bodies and are often the ones raising concerns, reiterating points made by Senator Byrne and Ms. Dolan about accountability and guarding public money. Losing that representation, she said, would reduce robustness and accountability in governance.
Support for technological universities and past progress
Rose Conway-Walsh emphasised that technological universities are in their infancy and urged that recent changes now working under the TU Act should not be undone. She referenced the Trojan work behind the Connacht-Trolster Alliance collaboration and said now is not the time to reverse gains.
Funding concerns and the Castles report
She raised chronic underfunding since 2008, noting higher student numbers and worse student-teacher ratios, and said funding measured against inflation is about 75% less than in 2008. She expressed a clear preference for option one of the Castles report and called for its prompt return and firm commitments on research and core funding.
Extra places without funding
Rose Conway-Walsh warned that announcing extra places without underpinning funding is an insult and will damage the advancement of knowledge. She urged adequate funding to be provided rather than expanding places on an underfunded basis.
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Yes, please. I suppose I want to get back to yourself, Annette, in terms of the concerns that I would have around, and forgive me for being parochial, but the fact that, are you really saying that the Mayo campus would not have representation on the governing body? Could you just speak to that to me again? And I mean, would that also mean that Letterkenny wouldn't have or Sligo wouldn't have or could you maybe just speak to that? Thanks. Yeah, just what is set out in the bill certainly could mean that one of the campuses wouldn't have staff representation. And I think that would be absolutely horrific. And it also goes to what Senator Byrne had set out in terms of, you know, the accountability and, you know, a governing body are acting as a corporate entity and I suppose guarding public money And if you want to know what's happening on the ground, you know, staff reps know what's going on, you know, and staff reps tend to be the ones raising the issues at the governing bodies, you know, because they know what's happening on the ground. So I think that is why it's really important to have that robustness to have that, I suppose, you know, raising issues of concern at the governing body. And that, so if you have, you know, GMIT or IT Sligo or Letterkenny without that representation, I think that will not augur well for those regions. And also, you know, we are, the technological universities are in their infancy, you know, we've had a lot of difficulty in getting to this space. I think what we should be doing is supporting them and making sure that they are successful entities. So I think changes that have been agreed that are set out in the bill, that are now, that are set out in the TU Act rather, and are now working well, I think is now is not the right time to be changing them. Thank you very much, Ms. Dolan. I agree with you. I think it would be quite astonishing for that to happen. I know the Trojan work that was done in getting to the stage that we got with the Connacht-Trolster Alliance in the collaboration and the congruence and everything there. I am quite shocked to hear that the Mayo campus wouldn't have a voice there. And as you say, I think it's really repugnant and contravenes what was accepted up to this point. So to start backtracking at this early stage would really ring alarm bells for me. And I think it's something I will take up with the minister separately because we can't allow that to happen. I just want to refer to what Joan said, if that's all right, in terms of the research funding and the core funding. And absolutely, I mean, it is taken at a given in terms of, you know, we have all the evidence there, all the figures there in terms of the student teacher ratios and then the chronic underfunding, particularly since 2008. And the huge increase we've had in students. And I think we as a committee have to absolutely face that. Otherwise we're not going anywhere. We, you know, unless we do that, we know that I think, you know, taking inflation into account and everything else is about 75% less than it was in 2008. And we cannot keep doing more with less. So I know we're all looking forward to the Castles report coming back. And obviously option one is certainly my preferred option on that. We need it back as soon as possible. And I think in line with what is trying to be achieved here, we need absolute commitment around that. And we need it sooner rather than later. We're, you know, we're five, over five years, the other side of it. And we just can't keep dragging our feet in that regard. And we know the knock on effect in all of that in terms of tuition and everything. Thank you. And the announcement of extra places and extra places and extra places, if we're not underpinning that with the proper adequate funding, then I think it's an insult to everybody as well as it really damaging our advancing our knowledge as a nation. Thank you.
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