As the Minister is aware in the programme for Government outlines plans to create a single application portal for further and third level education. I would have thought that a first step in that is to create an information hub. The Minister correctly identified four different websites that people have to try to go through. It is quite challenging for young people to navigate all of this, particularly if they do not really know what they want to do. Asking them to navigate through these, even with the support of a …

I welcome that the Minister is trying to understand the behaviours. One of the potential problems of the CAO system is that it is easy. Students fill in their top choices and then they are done. They may not be considering the other options because they are much more difficult to navigate. I will give a specific example. Only about 12% or 14% of students study accounting at leaving cert but there may be many more who have an interest in it. They can do an accounting technician apprenticeship, they can go to college…

I have one thing to add. I represent Dublin Rathdown, and UCD is obviously a significant institution within Dublin Rathdown. The key recommendation of the students' union there, in last year's report on student accommodation, was that reducing the student contribution fee is the most effective way to support students and their families. I think that highlights where the students are coming from and what their expectations are.

I thank the Minister. Will he detail the update on supports to help to achieve a better gender balance in apprenticeships?

I thank the Minister of State. There have been some notable successes. For example, with aircraft mechanics, women's participation has gone from 11% to 18%. That is possibly an area from where we could take some learnings on it. One of the other things I wanted to follow up on is the fact the targets for female participation are quite ambitious. From 2023 to 2025, we are looking for an increase of 124%. That is why I ask about the measures we have in place. How will we get there and how effective are those measures…

I thank the Minister of State. I will come back to the bursary again. Are there specific sectors where the uptake was more than others? Is there thus an opportunity to target other sectors with low representation, particularly of women? I agree and assumed hairdressing was the one area where there might be a balance to be struck. Are there learnings from sectors which may have been more successful in taking advantage of that bursary that can be applied to other sectors to try to encourage more women's participation…

I welcome the opportunity to make a statement on housing, which every representative in the House knows is the most important issue facing families in our country today. I was delighted with the news last week in my constituency, Dublin Rathdown, that an agreement had been reached with the Land Development Agency for the transfer of 17 acres, giving the Government the ability to develop 800 new homes on the site. This land was identified under the Government's Housing for All plan and shows that real progress is be…

This morning I wish to ask the Minister about the work of the officials in his Department on the new further education and training strategy in collaboration with SOLAS, particularly following the completion of its public consultation earlier this year.

I welcome the clarity that the Minister of State provided regarding the 800 individual meetings and 70 submissions to the public consultation. I look forward to hearing more details about that over the coming weeks as that is progressed. One reason I am raising this issue is the importance of the apprenticeship sector, which this public consultation is dealing with. We have done quite well in raising the numbers from 7,000 registrations to 30,000 registrations. I want to see this momentum continued and hence I am l…

I welcome the approach of a collaborative strategy. It is worthwhile. All the actors and relevant stakeholders in our third level and further education sector are critical to make this work and create consistencies across the sector. I especially appreciate and welcome the focus on lifelong learning. I also welcome the focus on workforce transformation because we are operating in a transformative world. We have had debates concerning AI and the resources focused on it. This aspect will impact all sectors of our soc…

I welcome the opportunity to discuss the transformative effect further and higher education can have. Having worked as a lecturer for many years in what is now Technological University Dublin, which the Minister visited last week, I have seen at first hand how education, particularly third level education, can open up opportunities for everyone. However, I must express my dissatisfaction with the fact that in scheduling this debate, its title does not refer to further education. Fine Gael's two previous Ministers i…

This question is to ask the Taoiseach to report on any ongoing or planned negotiations for the introduction of a new NACE code, designed for classifying businesses and used for statistical purposes, a subset of NACE 0149 on breeding of other animals, to uniquely identify dog breeding in Ireland.

I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive reply on this matter. I am raising this subject because we have serious concerns with regard to the management and monitoring of dog breeding in Ireland. We are all well aware of the terrible instances of dog attacks that occurred last year and the specific breeds that then had to be dealt with quite summarily. We need a greater understanding of that industry. My request is to try to shine a light of transparency on this industry in order that we are more aware of…

I am delighted to hear that an update to the regulations on dog breeding, dog control and the breeds of animals included in that list will be looked at. I ask for the list of dogs currently on the dog control list to be reviewed as well. With some breeds, there have been concerns over the years as to the appropriateness of their inclusion on the list. I look forward to that legislation coming forward.

I appreciate the clarity on that. I thank the Minister for giving us time to have this debate today on this very important issue. I also offer my sympathies to her. On the publication of the Grace report, I began to read the nearly 2,000-page document. Like many others, I found it difficult and upsetting to read the details of Grace's life. As the discourse on the report began, I was interested to find that others were also upset, not just by the investigation's findings, which were distressing in themselves, but b…

I ask the Minister for an update on the progress on the capital build project for St. Brigids Girls School, Cabinteely. I recently met the school principal. After a conversation with her about their building project, I followed up with the Department. Following this, the school received a very positive update from the Department. I would like to get the latest update. This is a significant project for the school, which has been working on it for a number of years. It is very important to the school and the school c…

I thank the Minister for her comprehensive reply. I can tell from it that it is quite a complex project. It started and then it had to be amended, and we are now at the redesign stage. The school authorities informed me that they have the design sketched out and they will be able to follow up with that. I appreciate that the Department is dealing with a significant number of projects. Some 1,300 school building projects have been completed, as the Minister said, since 2020. One of those included Gaelscoil Laighean.…

I thank the Minister for acknowledging the issue about the transparency and the communication pieces between the Department and the schools. School principals are very busy and it is beyond the job description to also be a building project manager. I draw another issue to the Minister's attention. As we are engaging on building projects, one of the issues that is coming up is the lack of play space in that some of it is being taken over while a new extension or new area is being built. Will the Minister look at bui…

I welcome the opportunity that has been given to us today to make statements for International Women's Day, although I know for many of us it has actually been quite a busy week attending many events both here in the House and in our constituencies. I myself just an hour ago was attending an event in my constituency which was hosted by Sandyford Business District, celebrating and supporting women's leadership and highlighting the importance of women's participation at every level of our society, from grassroots to …

I want to ask the Minister about her ongoing work in the Department focusing on the reduction of childcare costs and making childcare more accessible. What are the plans to get to the commitment in the programme for Government to reduce childcare costs to €200 per child per month?