Further and Higher Education
Dail Éireann — 2022-12-01
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I will do that and, indeed, we are doing that. Professor Tom Collins is heading a working group under the Funding the Future framework specifically looking at part-time study and eligibility and access concerning student supports. I agree with the Deputy, and I hope we can find a way forward in 2023 on the issue of SUSI. I will keep in touch with the Deputy in this regard.
Turning to the question from Deputy Durkan, I am pleased our education system has worked to accommodate and facilitate people fleeing a war in the largest humanitarian crisis of our lifetimes. Approximately 15,000 people from Ukraine in Ireland are accessing further education and training, with around 500 accessing higher education. I am very proud to be a Minister of a sector that has worked to make these people feel welcome and to support them in ensuring that Putin's ambition of depriving the next generations of Ukrainians of the education and skills they will need to rebuild their country cannot be fulfilled. We will always continue to stand with Ukraine and to support that country.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2022-12-01/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:51:22+00:00
Sitting date: 2022-12-01