Record of the Green Party & Academic Freedom

Edited Seanad Order of Business 20.1.11

I was taken by Senator Daly’s reference to John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s inauguration speech. Other words from the speech spring to mind in the context of ministerial resignations and the forthcoming injection of new blood.

Kennedy’s words, “let the word go out ... to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation,” remind me that the dead wood of the Cabinet is to be torched and that the torch will be passed to a new generation of Ministers for only a few weeks.

I have been critical of the Green Party, but it is being unfairly blamed for its decision to go into government in order to further its agenda. I disagree with certain aspects of it which are seriously wrong-headed, but it is mad to blame a small party for going into government. However, the Green Party lost sight of the value of trying to get into government when it subjected the country to unnecessary chaotic speculation in its desire to gazump the larger party by calling for the holding of an early general election. It appears it could gazump its partners once again by stating it will negotiate on staying another year in government in the light of the appointment of an almost entirely new Cabinet.

Some 150 academics have written an open letter criticising proposals made in the Croke Park agreement which they claim pose a serious threat to academic freedom. They state: “The right to permanency and tenure to retirement age is the bedrock on which academic freedom rests.” We should not undermine academic freedom, given that some of the more important criticisms of what has occurred in this country in recent years have been made by people in academia rather than in the Oireachtas. It is important we protect their work.

In defending the right to tenure as a prerequisite to protect academic freedom, we must not lose sight of the fact that many academics employed on a temporary basis do not enjoy the same rights in our colleges. They have been done an injustice during the years. We must find a way to protect the rights of existing academic staff in a way which will not be at the expense of those who have contracts which are more vulnerable to expiry.