Senator Gerard Craughwell- speech from 12 Jul 2022

The amendment that was put in there, Minister, was about a group elected by their peers as a student's union. Just one thing I'd like you to clear up for me, if you don't mind. Going back to my own trade union days, there is always a chance of fringe groups, and I would hope that the direction that the HEA would give in the establishment of a student's union is that it's all-encompassing, that special interest groups would be encompassed within the union, and I would have no difficulty then with the union being set up on those bases. It would be my belief that any student body that would allow a student's union to be set up without a formal election would be themselves negligent rather than the HEA or anybody like that. But I am concerned that we are becoming more and more, I suppose, micro in different facets of life in Ireland, and what you don't need in any representative body is fringe groups or splits. There's an old saying in Ireland, the first job of every committee is to sit down and organise a split. What we want is we want a student's union that represents all interests within the college and all micro-groups are all micro-interests. So other than that, I accept your position with respect to the bill. Thank you.