Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir Curley as an tairiscint seo a thabairt isteach. Is ábhar tábhachtach é cinnte. I thank Senator Curley for raising this important matter regarding the HPAT exams and access to medicine more broadly. I acknowledge at the outset that there are very real pressures on students who aspire to study medicine and other very competitive healthcare disciplines. They are competitive courses and I recognise the concerns of students and their families regarding preparedness, access and the path…

That is a fair point. The Senator wants changes for the better, which is reasonable. The institutions have identified this issue. I have spoken to them about how the HPAT, for the reasons the Senator mentioned, is not necessarily the best valve with which to manage entry into these professions. They are refocussing on the leaving certificate, and I appreciate the issues he has raised with that. It is part of a wider rebalancing in having identified issues with the HPAT and how it was being leveraged. Perhaps it was…

Learn the rules.

I welcome the opportunity to address this matter in the House. There has been a great deal of commentary about Carlow College and SETU since the announcement was made two weeks ago, although some of the central facts have been lost. I do not blame the Senator for that but it is important to recognise that the reality of this matter is actually far from how it is being represented in the media and elsewhere. Carlow College came to Government seeking assistance. The institution had been operating at a deficit for sev…

It is very surprising and disappointing for me to hear this because I visited the college and there was local media coverage of it on numerous occasions in the past. The Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O'Connor, has been highly engaged on the issue with all stakeholders. However, it is a fact that until this transfer completes, Carlow College remains a privately operated institution outside of the State system and it has autonomy over all matters, including staff, public relations and employment. It is important …

I will start the debate by reflecting back on 100 years ago. The 1926 census digitisation recently emerged and it showed a very different Ireland. It is worth reflecting on the journey that we have travelled in that 100 years. Before I get into that, though, I hope the House will indulge me a brief personal note. Had I not been performing parliamentary duties today, I would have been attending my grand-aunt, auntie Alice's 100th birthday this afternoon where she is celebrating her party in a nursing home in Mallow …

I hope to be in this House as long as him.

Reading, writing and arithmetic.

It is a great pleasure to be in the Seanad today. I look forward to updating Senators on the work of my Department, myself and the team around me, particularly in the areas of student accommodation and supports. I understand we might return another day to research, innovation and higher education, some of the other aspects of the portfolio. I understand that we are under time pressure today. Further and higher education are critical elements of Ireland's economic growth, which is fundamentally tied to our societal …

I could stay later if that helps the House.

What I am going to do is take each of the comments. There were a number of comments. I thank everybody for their contributions and I am going to step through the different issues that were raised. How much time do I have?

Grand. I thank Senator Dee Ryan for setting out a number of items that I have been progressing over the past year. I thank her for her support on that as well as Fianna Fáil spokesperson in the Seanad, and indeed the wider team. I thank the wider House for its ongoing engagement on these matters. It was a pleasure to visit Limerick recently with Senator Ryan and see the Whitebox development with 1,500 beds that are about to come on stream. It utilised the new design template that I published. It was great to see th…

Good man. I am replying to his comment on the free student meal. It is something I will have a look at. There is a €20 million fund, the student assistance fund, which colleges can use at their discretion. If a particular college wanted to start utilising that for that purpose, that would be within its control. If the Senator knows any that are interested, he might encourage them along to that. Certainly, I am happy to work with him on that and see what happens there. The other point Senator Boyhan made - again, a …

We are trying to increase the number of healthcare places in the system and we have added 1,100 across therapies, medicine, nursing, midwifery, etc. Placement opportunities are essential for these courses to go full term. I have been working very closely with the Minister for Health on this. The Minister for Health has appointed HSE regional co-ordinators for placements, specifically for this issue, to ensure that each hospital and healthcare facility is supported and makes these places available. Deputy Ahern ment…

The Deputy's question is timely. I am always conscious of the desire to reduce the cost of education for students. I met a number of students recently at the cost of college event where I had very good conversations. I am meeting AMLÉ tomorrow and I meet student unions across the country on an ongoing basis. On many occasions, I have outlined my commitment to improving student supports in a way that is equitable, funded, fair and provides certainty for families. That is one of the reasons I prioritised student supp…

As the Deputy knows, the student supports I introduced in the most recent budget targeted, in particular, those students who have to travel extra distances. They are categorised as being "non-adjacent". All four bands of non-adjacent maintenance grants were increased by between €200 and €400 to reflect the additional costs for those commuting those distances. The Deputy mentioned accommodation, and rightly so. I am aware it is a key concern for most students. As the Deputy knows, I published the student accommodati…

We are doing that. This week or next week, we will pass the Finance Bill through the Houses to give effect to those measures we have already decided, as a Government, to take. We are doing exactly as the Deputy suggests. We are providing further subsidies on the cost of travel to students in two ways, namely, through direct intervention at the petrol pumps for those students who travel by car and motorised transport and by additions to the maintenance grants, which are already in the system and being paid out to st…

I thank the Deputy for his ongoing interest in this matter and all matters pertaining to higher education. As he knows, the programme for Government addresses the cost of college in a balanced way. It does so deliberately by combining universal and targeted measures. The programme for Government commits to incrementally reducing student contribution fees as well as increasing SUSI grants; providing targeted support measures for specific cohorts; providing more pathways into higher and further education; and improvi…

The Deputy makes the point well. I will not comment on collective Cabinet decisions, but I hear what the Deputy said. It is very fair. For my part, I attend to pursue a multitude of options to further support students. These include making progress on fees but also a number of other options in areas such as maintenance grants, funding for students with disabilities, mental health supports, the student assistance fund, accommodation support through the non-adjacent grants and so forth. As I mentioned to Deputy McGet…

I assure the Deputy and the House that I will make the case in the budget negotiations to secure the maximum possible package for my Department for the benefit of students, apprentices, researchers and all the people within and for all the good reasons the Deputy articulates. I expect the cost of college paper to be available in June or early summer, and certainly it will be with us before the summer break. It has been commissioned at the moment. It derives from the cost of college event, which we held with student…