TD unhappy with minister's answers to her Mayo GMIT Campus questions
MAYO Fianna Fáil Deputy Lisa Chambers has expressed disappointment and frustration with the replies she received to parliamentary questions she tabled to Education Minister Richard Bruton in respect of the future of the Mayo GMIT Campus.
In response to a question on whether or not the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology plans to advertise and hold an open competition to fill the position of campus director for the Castlebar facility, the minister said: “The position with regard to the Campus Director for the Mayo Campus of GMIT is that since the introduction of the moratorium on public sector recruitment, an Employment Control Framework (ECF) has been in place for the higher education sector which provides institutions with considerable flexibility to fill vacancies, through recruitment or promotions on the basis of meeting an overall ceiling of posts.
“Higher education institutions are autonomous bodies and are responsible for their own day to day affairs, including the allocation of all of its income (both public and private) and for the management of its staffing compliment.”
Deputy Chambers said the minister's reply did not clear up the matter for her or the Mayo public at large.
On the issue of appointments to the governing body of the GMIT, the minister stated: “The members to the Governing Body of the Institutes of Technology are appointed under Section 4 of the Regional Technical Colleges (Amendment) Act 1994.
'While the legislation provides for me in my capacity as minister to appoint members of the governing body. I, as Minister, have no power to nominate the members to be appointed.
“That onus is on the relevant Education and Training Boards to ensure that requirements under the Act are met with regard to the nominations. The legal requirements with regard to the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) board, as set out in the legislation.”
The minister did not respond to a question regarding the appointment of an additional representative from Mayo Sligo Leitrim Education and Training Board (MSLETB) to the governing body.
Shaun Purcell of MSLETB was appointed to the board on February 24 last and is the only board member with a Mayo education connection.
When contacted by The Connaught Telegraph, Deputy Chambers said she is not going to stop in her efforts to get unequivocal answers in regard to the Castlebar facility and its future.