Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 June 2026
329. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science whether it is the Government's position that all registered students, including international students, should have an unrestricted right to seek election to represent their peers in students' union structures, subject only to institutional democratic rules. [48006/26]
View answerHigher Education Institutions (HEIs), including universities and technological universities, are autonomous within the meaning of the Universities Act 1997 and the Technological Universities Act 2018. As autonomous bodies with academic and administrative freedom, each institution is responsible for its own internal governance arrangements and related decision-making.
Students’ unions operate as independent, democratic organisations within higher education institutions. As universities and technological universities are autonomous bodies established under statute, it is a matter for each individual institution and its associated student representative structures to determine the rules governing the operation of students’ unions.
