Richard Boyd Barrett: 'Disgraceful' Treatment of Carlow College
Richard Boyd Barrett addresses the committee over the decision to close Carlow College and questions the Minister's handling of the promised integration with SETU. He argues staff, students and the college's ethos were abandoned without proper consultation and calls for the decision to be paused and re-examined.
Key criticism and demand for answers
Richard Boyd Barrett describes the treatment of staff, students and a college of historic importance as "absolutely disgraceful." He presses for answers from the Minister about promises that jobs and the college ethos would transfer to SETU and says those promises were broken without proper consultation.
Committee action proposed
Barrett urges the committee to recommend pausing and re-examining the closure decision, arguing the original proposal to integrate Carlow College into SETU with jobs and ethos preserved should be upheld. He stresses that the committee has the power to seek revision.
Financial and institutional consequences
He highlights the visible beneficiaries: SETU, which gains a central 17-acre campus, and the college, which received several million in funding. Barrett says the real losers are staff, students and the institution itself - those with little voice in the process.
Value of humanities and access to higher education
Barrett warns that closing the college would signal a rejection of humanities education at a time it is urgently needed. He emphasises Carlow College's role in educating first-generation higher-education students and calls the decision a travesty given the institution's inclusive expertise.
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I have to say, I just think it's absolutely disgraceful how the staff and the students and this college, which is of historic importance, have been treated. And the fact that James Fintan Lawler went there, I mean, that just speaks volumes. One of our most important revolutionaries. It's just shocking, to be honest. And I mean, the Minister needs to answer questions. Would you agree that the Minister, because you were led to believe you were going to be integrated, the jobs would move over to SETU, the college, its ethos would be moved over, and then the rug was pulled from under your feet without any proper consultation, and even now you don't have any explanation. It's just absolutely disgraceful. And I believe, I just want to say, I think our committee should recommend that this whole decision is paused, re-examined, and I see no reason why the original proposal to you, that you would be integrated into SETU with your jobs, and with the ethos that the college maintains, shouldn't be kept to. And I think, frankly, our committee should recommend that. They're quite within their power to go. But is that something you would like to see, I suppose? Thank you, we're going to move on, just, if, do we not have time to answer? Yes, no, absolutely. I mean, it's to the benefit of all higher education in terms of the overall strategy that the government has committed to for higher and further education, because this was a strategy within Carlow College, but full integration is absolutely what we're seeking. Could I just say, in relation to it as well, that, you know, we need to, like, there's so many questions about it, so much murkiness. Well, the thing we normally do in those circumstances is say, well, follow the money. Who's benefited from this? SETU have benefited from it. They've got this fantastic 17-acre campus in the centre of town to do with what they wish. No commitments, basically, around it, right? And the college has benefited to some extent. They've got six-point-something million for it. So the only people that are suffering on account of it are the staff, the students, and the institution itself, right? The people who can't really speak, haven't got a voice. And it is a travesty. There's only one way that this decision to close down the college makes any sense, and it's if, as an educationalist or a politician, you think, we've no need for humanities education anymore. Is that where we're at? At a time when we need it more than ever, when we look at what's going on in the country and around the world. And this is a brilliant, everybody, everybody has recognised the expertise and the inclusive nature and the diverse of nature. We have so many students, they're first-generation students coming to higher-level education. There is, educationally, this is a gem. And we want to just throw it away for a relatively small amount of money in terms of the kind of budgets that the department has. It's insane.
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