The proposal, due to be voted on by the parliament this week, in the last plenary session before the elections, would limit decisions on the work programme of the European Defence Fund to the European Commission and committees through “implementation acts”, effectively bypassing debate, criticism or approval from MEPs.
Senator Higgins said, “If MEP’s sign off on this agreement this week, they will be undermining the power of the next parliament to scrutinise or hold the European Defence Fund to account.”
She continued “I am asking MEP’s of all parties to indicate where they stand on this by either speaking and voting against this abdication of democratic oversight. At the very least, I would ask them to delay the vote until a new Parliament with a new mandate is in place.”
Senator Higgins was an early critic of Ireland's decision to join the PESCO military alliance, noting at the time that "In the founding document of PESCO, peace is not mentioned even once" and raising concerns about PESCO's goal of greatly increased defence spending, "very little of which is likely to go towards wages".
Speaking this morning, Senator Higgins noted, "When we look at PESCO and the European Defence Fund, we have to question the appropriateness of directing so much funding towards militarisation when the EU faces such huge collective challenges in other areas like climate change. There are also very specific issues around the purpose and detail of this spending. Will it, for example, support autonomous weaponry such as AI based drones? Will it undermine UN mandates? These are the kind of questions MEPs in the next Parliament need to be able to ask".
Senator Higgins, who is chair of the Oireachtas cross party group on Peace, Neutrality and Disarmament, concluded, "Ireland has a proud record on disarmament and peacekeeping and our best contribution to Europe is as beacons and champions for peace. We should not compromise our peace builder role by signing up to the European Defence Fund and choosing to turn a blind eye to its operations.”
Dear Friends,
It is one year since I had the honour of becoming a member of Seanad Éireann, the first woman elected to the NUI panel in 35 years. I want to offer again my sincere and heartfelt thanks to all those who entrusted me with their vote and who have supported me in different ways.
The Higher Education Authority Bill will have a major impact on staff, students & society. I proposed over 100 amendments. Following strong criticism of use of guillotine at Committee stage, Report stage has been adjourned, meaning there is still chance to improve crucial aspects of Bill.
One of the key issues I raised was the importance of trade union representation from both professional & academic staff on governance boards as well as proper national strategies to challenge the serious problem of precarious low paid work within academia.
The proposed definition of student union in the Bill is not fit for purpose & based around recognition from Minister or governing authority rather then electoral mandate from students. Students union representatives from right across country have made it clear this needs to be fixed!
The Bill will give huge amount of power & discretion to Minister, including requirement for higher education institutions to comply with future policy docs of Government. Bill must be amended to ensure appropriate independence, transparency & autonomy for both HEA & individual institutions.
Another core aspect we sought to address was embedding equality, equity, access and participation into the legislation and creating legal requirements that both HEA & individual institutions policies are furthering & empowering access to & equity in our higher education system.
The Bill continues the practice of focusing entirely on private research & not looking to public/blue skies research or public-public partnerships for research. To address issues like climate, inequality and sustainable development we need a robust public research system
The references to sustainability & environment in the Bill are woefully outdated & inadequate, coming from a 1987 pre-Rio definition of “environmental development”. I sought to include the definition based on the SDGs with acknowledgement of historical responsibility & climate justice.
Following pressure from Senators, the debate has adjourned till September & there is time for Minister Harris to work constructively with us as legislators & with stakeholders to address these & other issues. The HEA Bill will underpin higher education for years to come, we need to get it right!