On Tuesday, Senator Sharon Keogan raised the ongoing controversy surrounding the imposition of gender ideology – and the unfounded assertion that it is unlawful” not to use “preferred pronouns” – on Irish universities or Higher Education Institutes (HEIs).
In the Seanad, she specifically referred to the role of British NGO Advance HE in having their Athena SWAN charter, which includes a commitment to transgenderism, as part of the criteria for research funding awarded by the Higher Education Authority.
Seanad Éireann debate – Tuesday, 17 Oct 2023 (oireachtas.ie) It starts at 1:02:38 and ends 1:06
Senator Keogan requested that the Minister for Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, appear before the Seanad in order to debate “the appropriateness of withholding funding from Irish higher education institutes, HEIs, which have not been rubber-stamped by a British NGO.
She was referring to the Advance HE Athena SWAN certification and to Gript’s reporting on both the origins of this within British New Labourism when in power, and to the fact the “hitherto functionally useless award handed out by a leftist British NGO ”that “is now an essential prerequisite for every Irish university, college and institute that wishes to apply for funding from the country’s main research funder.”
She said:
“I call for a debate with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, on the appropriateness of withholding funding from Irish higher education institutes, HEIs, which have not been rubber-stamped by a British NGO. The NGO in question is Advance HE, which supervises Athena SWAN.
It was founded in 2018 as a merger of the UK’s Equality Challenge Unit, Higher Education Academy and Leadership Foundation for Higher Education. Not only is it an English NGO, it is one whose origins are directly linked to and funded by the British State. The Athena SWAN charter sets out the standards of gender equality an entity must attain to be awarded a bronze, silver or gold award from Advance HE, which the entity, such as a HEI, can then wave around before going home and sticking it on the fridge.
That was the position until 7 April 2022, when the Minister, Deputy Harris, deemed it necessary to eliminate or severely restrict funding to HEIs that do not possess an Athena SWAN award.
He stated in written reply to a parliamentary question that “Only higher education institutions that have at least an Athena SWAN bronze institutional award can apply for funding from Ireland’s main research funders.”
This hitherto functionally useless award handed out by a leftist British NGO is now an essential prerequisite for every Irish university, college and institute that wishes to apply for funding from the country’s main research funders. This might not be so bad if the provisions of the charter were truly about gender equality, providing that women and men are of equal value and that we should ensure this is reflected in society. No. Rather, the charter busies itself with the West’s ubiquitous question du jour, radical gender ideology, and states universities must commit to recognising that individuals can determine their gender identify and to tackling issues faced by trans and non-binary people.
Why on earth ought this be a criterion for an Irish educational institution to be given State funding? As Dr. Matt Treacy writes:
Believing that a biological man or woman, possibly suffering from the psychiatric condition known as gender dysphoria, can simply decide that they are of a different gender is a subjective and ideologically based opinion. It is not a scientific fact, and nor ought public affirmation of it be a criteria for anything, least of all the granting of Irish taxpayers money to universities.
Research funding is the lifeblood of universities so the message from the Minister is simple: take the ideological soup or die in the cold. This would be an outrageous suggestion from anyone. The fact it has been made policy by the Minister responsible for funding the HEIs is beyond parody. The Minister needs to come into the house and answer that question.
As Senator Keogan pointed out, and as has been highlighted by Colette Colfer in one of those institutions, the South East Technological University (SETU), which was claiming that not using a preferred pronoun constituted an illegal act, the issue is not with what was the ostensible objective of Athena SWAN – equality between men and women within third level institutions.
Rather, it is the fact that the Athena SWAN charter has been amended since its adoption here, so that it now “busies itself with the West’s ubiquitous question du jour, radical gender ideology, and states universities must recognise that individuals can determine their gender identity and to tackling issues faced by trans and non-binary people.” Even apart from that, the Irish state ought surely not be deferring to such an entity on any matter.
Despite a gratuitous smart Alec comment by New Sinn Féin Senator Paul Gavan, who might be fairly described as having his own ideological roots in the type of statist New Labourism that spawned Advance HE and Athena SWAN, Senator Keoghan’s request did elicit a commitment from Senator Lisa Chambers, Leader of the Seanad, that she would make that request for a debate to Minister Harris.
Such a debate is essential given the vital life blood of research funding. It is entirely appropriate, despite the tetchiness of their ideological comrades on the left, that the role of Advance HE and its Charter in the administration of Irish third level institutions, and indeed its successful efforts to extend that reach into other parts of Irish life, is fully examined and reappraised.
That was recently indicated by the rather pathetic celebration by the Economic, Social and Research Institute (ESRI) of its having been awarded a bronze star by this crowd. All of this needs to be subject to rigorous debate. Hopefully, a similar debate will also take place in the Dáil and perhaps within the relevant Committee.
Those with responsibility for Irish third level education must ask themselves and their peers the following question: Would Donagh O’Malley, the man celebrated for revolutionising Irish education in the 1960s – or indeed the man who first appointed him to the Cabinet, Seán Lemass – have sought the approval much less the veto of a section of the British university left for anything they ever did?
You can most likely answer that one yourself. And it is one that needs to be posed to their successors in Fianna Fail today.