Student Accommodation and Supports: Statements
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-26
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Fiona O'Loughlin (FF), Administrative Panel

The Minister is very welcome. I know him to be a politician of conviction, particularly when it comes to education and access to it for everybody of every type of ability and those with mixed abilities. The Minister has done a lot of work already. I note a report that came out today, the Mid-term Progress Review of the National Access Plan 2022-2028 for higher education and equity of access. We have actually gone beyond the targets and we are two years ahead. I commend the Minister on that. It is really important. Expanding access and excellence has to be key to everything we do.
In the short time I have, there are two things I will bring up with the Minister. The first is the importance of transversal education, the non-formal and informal, to make our young people very well-rounded young people so that they can develop resilience. It is important this is factored into everything. For some young people leaving secondary school, going into third level or further level can be quite daunting. Anything we can do to help and support has to be considered.
The Minister will not be surprised to hear me speak on the need for apprenticeships in north-west Kildare. We badly need this in a place where Bord na Móna was synonymous with apprenticeships. It is also about encouraging young people to be entrepreneurs and set up their own businesses.
The last thing I will mention is an individual called Des Henry who has done incredible work with the WALK PEER programme. He works in Walkinstown with WALK.
It is around career guidance for young people with disabilities leaving school. Unfortunately, they are now actually shunted back into day services. We need to do more and he has an excellent plan to do it. I will talk to the Minister separately to get support on that.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-26