James Lawless

You used to, in the past.

It is called political debate.

The list of the companies was in English, was it not?

The REITs were in English.

This is my first opportunity to address the House since my appointment to this very important brief. It is an honour to hold it and I look forward to working on the sector with the Deputies opposite and all Deputies of the House. I acknowledge that Deputy Boyd Barrett has an interest in the area of higher education, innovation and research, the pursuit of curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge. We…

I absolutely share the Deputies' frustration. Deputy Coppinger called for me to make a statement but I have made statements, as she will see if she listens back to what I have said and looks at the Official Report. I have shared the Deputies' concerns-----

-----and expressed serious concerns for the position of the staff and students. I am not happy about what is obtaining; let us be clear about that. There are limits, and the Deputies are well acquainted and familiar with the industrial relations machinery and how these disputes work. When a private entity is in a dispute with staff, there are very few levers a Minister can deploy. Deputy Coppinger…

The realistic powers that may be available to any Minister to intervene in an industrial relations dispute involving a private company are limited, but that is exactly what the industrial relations machinery of the State is there for. Having said that, I had a look at the BIMM website and went through some documentation that is publicly available, and there is something the college calls a terms …

There will be statements on the issue later today.

There is no slashing of funds.

That is not in the programme at all.