I thank the Deputy for the question. I am committed to increasing the supports available to students and to addressing the costs of education for students and their families progressively over this year and the coming years for as long as I am privileged to serve in this office. It is important to say that all proposals made regarding education expenditure, including student grants, thresholds, limits, awards and so on, are considered annually in the context of the budget. It is in October that these discussions wi…

I know the Deputy's commitment to north Kildare and to our shared constituency. I agree that education is absolutely a core part of that. Education, talent, skills and investment in people are the core of our success economically as well. That is why we, as a nation, have achieved everything we have. It is because of our investment in education from the early days of the State. It is something I continue to commit to and continue to advance. As I mentioned, the threshold now for some level of support is up to €115,…

I totally agree. I refer to some of the progress we have made in recent years, which will be continuing again from this September. On the cost of education, the threshold is one part of it, and an important one. The SUSI grant system is one part also. There are other factors such as student accommodation, which I am working on. I hope to publish a strategy on student accommodation this summer. This will address student accommodation in a consistent way with a uniform template, or a set of templates, available for s…

I thank the Deputy for his continuing interest in the Cavan project as well as others. More generally, on the Department's capital ceiling over the last period there is a dedicated capital envelope, which the Deputy referred to, that amounted to €300 million for the further education and training sector, FET. Available funding has increased again from a low base of €6 million in 2018 to €107 million in the current year. That is a very significant multiplier of the available funding for the FET colleges and the FET …

I absolutely know it will be put to very good use. It is a fantastic and very exciting project and it is great to hear the history of that building, and indeed of the project and further education in the Cavan-Monaghan area. I thank the Deputy for the invitation to visit. I will certainly put that in my diary and will get there in due course. I would like to see it for myself. You cannot beat seeing it for real and meeting the teams on the ground to understand how projects are coming on. I thank the Deputy for his …

I agree with the Deputy and I thank him for those points on access to the system for those who maybe would not have had that given they were coming from backgrounds where traditionally education or higher education was not a feature. The further education sector has been so progressive and has led so much in making education accessible to so many more families in a community setting and closer to home. It has made it easier to access education, despite economic reasons, family reasons or caring reasons, and has pro…

I thank the Deputy for his question and his kind words. I look forward to working with him to deliver for Kildare North and the country as we work together in this House and elsewhere. I know he is spokesperson for a related area as well. I want to acknowledge that and support him in his work. The plan to modernise research equipment is a topic close to my heart. It is something that I immediately addressed when I came into this role. I tasked a team within the Department and established a working group comprising …

I entirely agree with the Deputy regarding the economic headwinds he referred to in his supplementary question. Part of our competitive offering is that we have such a strong talent base, we invest in education and we invest in research and innovation. Later today, I will travel to Brussels to attend a research council with European Council colleagues and ministers in related briefs across the European Union. We are very keen to support a successor programme in terms of Horizon funding. The Draghi report, which the…

The Deputy mentioned the IUA paper published in March. I appointed the IUA to my working group, and it is actually actively involved in it already. It is an excellent organisation and it is worthwhile to have it in the room for these discussions. The other thing I will say about the programme as I currently envisage it and through my work with the expert group is that it is intended to be a competitive funding call. It will not necessarily be a case of something for everybody but, rather, will be based upon excelle…

I thank the Deputy and acknowledge his continuing interest in this area and in the matter he referred to at the end of his question. More generally, at the outset, supporting the participation and success of learners with disabilities is a critical national priority. It is something I have been very much engaged in since I took up my role, as were my predecessors. The Minister of State, Deputy Harkin, is also very much engaged. We are very keen to make an impact and progress in this area. This progress is being mad…

As acknowledged regarding PATH 4, I did commit almost €3 million in additional funding just this week towards that funding. I also intend to initiate a disability demonstration project, which will inform the development of the new policy framework for more flexible and responsive tailored supports for those students and their educational journey. A great deal of work is being done. Regarding the Fórsa claim, I know this is of particular interest to the Deputy. To give some brief background, personal assistants are …

I acknowledge the Deputy's ongoing advocacy for this group and we have talked about it on a number of occasions already. I know he may be a little sceptical of interdepartmental reviews and the rest of it, but the last one made significant progress. Anyone would acknowledge that a 42% pay increase is a pretty substantial one. Certainly progress has been made but I acknowledge that elements of it are still in dispute. That conciliation process is ongoing and the State has engaged the industrial relations machinery w…

I will make an opening statement and then the Chair of the Oireachtas committee, Deputy Erin McGreehan, will speak and the Minister of State, Deputy Marian Harkin, will close the debate at the end. I welcome that we have taken some time in the House today to address one of the most important issues that confronts a government at any time, but particularly in changing and challenging times such as we are now in, that being, the education of its people and the generation of new knowledge, insights and ideas to propel…

The Senator's last lines are good advice for anybody.

I was just taking stock and this has been a good debate. I thank the Senators who brought forward the motion, and all who contributed. I am delighted to see the topic is getting air time in this House and the other House, because it is of such fundamental importance to our economy, our society and everything we do and have done as a nation. I am delighted this opportunity for all to have their say arose. I have listened intently. I will try to respond to most if not all remarks now. This debate will inform my views…

I thank Deputy Cahill for raising this important matter. I acknowledge the Deputy's continued advocacy for his constituency of Kerry and his interest in this topic. He has raised this issue with me via parliamentary questions as well as elsewhere. I am aware of the issue the Deputy has raised. It is an important and frustrating issue. It has been raised with me in a number of different situations. In my response I want to set out the reasons why this can arise, how it arises and how it may be best managed. As the D…

I thank the Deputy for his advocacy. I appreciate that there can be short notice - I understand it is typically seven days from a letter of offer to a response. If an apprentice is not in a position to take up the offer that time, it is given to the next person on the list. There are two competing goals. One is to keep the system moving and keep apprentices on the waiting list moving forward through the queue while at the same time accommodating people's preferences in terms of region or location in order that they…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir Ryan and thank her for raising this issue with me today. I will set out the context around the query before answering as Members may not be familiar with the issue that arises and the surrounding circumstances, so it might be helpful to the debate. A locally devised assessment, LDA, refers to an assessment created by a further education and training, FET, provider to evaluate learners’ skills and competencies in a specific course or module. These assessments align with the learnin…

I thank the Senator. That is helpful. I was not aware there was an issue in Macroom. We will look into that in a little more detail. There are variances across the sector, as I said, and certain historical practices have developed over and above what was perhaps the design or intention of those facilities. Perhaps that needs to be looked at as well, as to whether it is appropriate or right that certain courses be developed in certain centres at different levels. I will certainly take that away. I know Macroom, and …

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