MOST of the Universities Bill is a bureaucratic and time wasting failure", according to Senator Mary Henry, chairwoman of the Irish Federation of University Women. Speaking at the federation's weekend conference in Cork, Dr Henry said the legislation was "anti democratic" and would not "provide one more university place".
She said it was astonishing "to see any Labour Party minister intending to empower some snooper from the Higher Education Authority to investigate the pay and staffing levels of university departments.
"Are the rights of trade unions to negotiate on behalf of their members now threatened?" she asked.
Dr Henry said she rejected an implication in the Bill that there was a history of corruption in the university sector. "I can only suspect this stress on the need for accountability is some sort of punishment for the irregularities in the affairs of some of the RTCs and VECs.
She said: "With the vast bulk of the money spent by the universities being provided directly by the taxpayer through the Government, there is no problem about accountability for funds nor has there ever been."
Dr Henry said the Minister for Education claimed she was promoting the independence of university boards, "yet she is putting in place legislation allowing for the removal of boards and powers to dismiss the provosts and presidents. No institution can be considered independent where the chief executive and the hoard can be so easily dismissed by the paymaster.
Senator Henry said she supported better representation of women generally, but the Minister's plans "to decide on the gender composition of university boards from time to time could be counter productive".
The Bill would not mean a rejection of "long traditions of education and research" of the Dublin Institute of Technology, Dr Brendan Goldsmith, president of the institute, said at the weekend.
He said the new legislation must recognise "that modern university level education encompass more than the values and educational directions so rightly held in high esteem by the traditional universities".