I thank the Deputy for her question and interest in the area. She is her party's spokesperson in this area and I wish her well in that role. I look forward to working with her across the floor in the coming years. Regarding students who are considered to be dependent at the age of 23, this is part of the wider student grant system and scheme, which is kept under continuous review. Every year, the Department publishes an options paper that sets out costed reforms and changes to the scheme. I am currently engaged in …

-----with increasing thresholds. We will come back to that later.

I am aware of the issue, which has been raised with me by the student unions, and I have come across this in my review of the different schemes. It is fair to ask and test this to see what is appropriate. The Deputy mentioned that one of the families she had been in contact with had stated the difficulty in assessing and establishing that independence. Documentation accepted by SUSI includes: a letter confirming the address is registered with the RTB, if they are renting a property; a local authority lease agreemen…

The Deputy might call it a bureaucratic checklist but I am sure she would also agree public moneys should be carefully managed. It would not be appropriate to have a free-for-all where we do not need any proof or documentation and anyone who applies can get appropriate payments. I imagine the Deputy would agree this would not be appropriate either. If we accept that neither extreme is a good place to be, then we must find the point in the middle, that is, the level of documentation and support that is required and …

To answer the Deputy's second question, yes, I will commit to increasing funding in education. I have announced that already and brought this before Cabinet, where I secured approval to do so. The National Training Fund is a €1.485 billion pot of money that is collected through employer levies to support training and educational needs. There is a need for legislation to unlock that fund because the fund, as it is currently construed, has a particular set of categories under which it can be spent. I wish to broaden …

I agree with Deputy Cummins. We are very much on the same page on this. With regard to talent from abroad, I want Ireland to be a welcome place for scholars but that includes supporting our own - the people already here - and attracting more. The best-in-class research and innovation, STEM and humanities studies all work best when people collaborate at every level, including internationally, so that we have a fusion of the best minds. It is not recognising borders, barriers or arbitrary rules that other jurisdictio…

I thank the Deputy. I intend for the funding to support the entire sector. The Deputy mentioned some figures. I would also be a bit concerned by the current level of our research and development spending as a percentage of GDP. We need to increase that. The private sector is spending a lot, so public sector spending needs to increase. That will be reflected in what I am hoping to achieve through the national development plan, in terms of increased infrastructural spending across the research and education ecosystem…

I appreciate the Deputy raising this important issue, as the mental health and well-being of our third level students is a matter of deep concern and ongoing priority for this Government. The Government and my Department remain committed to enhancing mental health supports across the sector. My Department has allocated a total of €32 million to support higher education institutions in meeting the mental health and well-being needs of students since 2020. This funding supports institutions in directly meeting the ne…

Some examples of the types of projects being supported through that funding include the national student counselling database implementation project. This facilitates the identification of trends in the mental health needs of students attending student counselling services. It measures and monitors what trends are coming through from access to counselling services and identifies areas for further attention. There is a platform called Togetherall, which provides 24-7 peer support. Psychological counsellors in Higher…

If we consider some of the ratios, one counsellor for every 1,000 students was the suggestion from the International Accreditation of Counseling Services, IACS, to which the Deputy referred. There are different views about that report as to whether that is the optimal way to measure ability and whether that is the right metric but I certainly note what the Deputy is saying. The national student mental health and suicide prevention framework, which I mentioned, has identified that in an Irish context, there remains …

I had the pleasure of visiting the University of Galway last week. I met the chair, the president and the students' union and we had a good discussion on this and many other matters. I admired the fine quadrangle and had the opportunity to inspect some of the research projects around the campus as well. It was a really worthwhile visit to see the really good work being done there. Regarding student accommodation provision, access is a central concern. Access and supports are important to ensure that students can av…

Yes.

We are probably veering into questions for the Minister for housing rather than me. I am not aware of the seven-storey buildings the Deputy talks about. There are already 1,891 purpose-built student accommodation beds on campus in the University of Galway. The latest figures tell us the university accommodation is oversubscribed, however, as it has received more applications per bed than there are beds available. Additional accommodation beds were provided last year in Dunlin Village. The Deputy may be familiar wit…

It is not unusual for student accommodation to be used for other purposes during the summer months. Most of the higher education institutions do that themselves. It is part of the challenge of finding a solution. I want to see the maximum available beds for student accommodation based on a formula that works, first and foremost, for students. Many of the higher education institutions look to use student accommodation as a revenue-raising tool in the summer months, and I understand they are financing their activitie…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6, 11 and 33 together. As the House will be aware, the main support available to assist students with the cost of attending higher education is the student grant scheme. Under the scheme, grant assistance is awarded to eligible students attending an approved course in an approved institution who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means. In other words, there is a set of rules around the sche…

There were a couple of options raised and I will try to come back to the Deputy on each of them. Career guidance and counselling is something I tend to very much support and I am keen to increase the provision of it. As we know, it is extremely difficult for students, typically at a young age, to make choices that may have implications for their entire life journey after that. There is a bit of a pressure point around how to make that decision at the right time very quickly. However, I intend to support that area i…

I have listened to what the Deputy has said and I have taken note. He might want to follow up with me on that case as well. The first thing I would say, before I and my Department get involved, is that the student should consider appealing if they have not done so already. Indeed, I would advise any student who feels they have been wrongly denied a grant, or not had their correct level of grant funding applied, to access the appeals mechanism. I would refer any student who is dissatisfied to the relevant website, s…

On the disability framework and the challenge posed, this Government wants to support people with disabilities in the fullest possible way to allow them to live the most meaningful and impactful lives as possible, and with as much support from the State as possible. This fundamental goal is writ large in the programme for Government and the entire Government is committed to delivering on it. Indeed, the Taoiseach has convened a Cabinet subcommittee, which is meeting regularly and of which I am a member, to address …

I mentioned some of the places we have provided and we intend to provide further places in these areas. There are also agreements regarding healthcare provision with Ulster University and Queen's University Belfast resulting in a further 389 places over the last two years. I visited Queen's University Belfast over the Easter break and met the president, Ian Greer. I also met some of the students from the Republic who are attending courses there. I am told they are excelling in their fields. They were certainly grea…

I thank Deputy Connolly for his support in my visit to Galway last week. He is a great advocate for the college and works closely with the team. I believe he is a former student. That was a very good engagement. I agree with both Deputies on the real need to examine all options and all levers at our disposal to increase the number of disability workers. These include Springboard. I believe it could include apprenticeships and I have asked my further education teams to look at options to address this demand within t…